Emergency management official says banditry was hampering rescue operations in the area of the accident.

About 50 miners have been trapped underground after a mining pit collapsed in Galkogo, in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.

The mining site operated by a company, "African Minerals and Logistics Limited", collapsed on Sunday evening after a heavy downpour, leaving the 50 miners buried underground.

Among those trapped since Sunday night is the site manager of the mining company, Ibrahim Ishaku.

It was gathered that a middle-aged man whose name was given as Kuta and who is the chief security officer to the mining company, died while trying to rescue some of the victims.

Six people were eventually rescued with various degree of injuries and were taken to a government health facility in the area.

It was further gathered that while manual rescue operation was ongoing, another portion of the mining pit caved in, forcing the rescuers to abandon the rescue operation and run for their lives.

As of the time of filing this report, the 50 victims remained trapped underground, fueling fears that they may have been killed by the collapsed pit.

The Public Relation officer (PRO) of the state emergency management agency, Hussaini Ibrahim, who confirmed the incident in a statement in Minna on Tuesday, said "due to the unacceptable nature of that environment as a result of banditry, the information of the incident is very scanty, including rescue operations".

The PRO, however, disclosed that excavators have been deployed to the scene for the rescue operations.

He also confirmed that bandits attacked two areas in the state on Sunday night.

In Adogo Mallam village in Mashegun Local Government Area, they kidnapped six persons and at least 20 in Tunga Kawo village in Erena ward of Shiroro Local Government Area, with hundreds of cows rustled.