NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 18 — Two artisanal miners were killed on Tuesday after a mining shaft collapsed in Macalder area of Nyatike Sub-County, Migori County, police said.
According to an incident report filed at Macalder Police Station, the collapse occurred at around 11 a.m. while four workers were carrying out construction work to reinforce the walls of the shaft.
The incident was reported under Occurrence Book number 22/16/12/2025 at 6:35 p.m.
Police officers who visited the scene established that the shaft gave way suddenly, trapping the workers.
Two of them — William Ochieng, also known as Awilo, a 40-year-old Tanzanian national, and a Kenyan identified as Jacob — sustained serious injuries.
The two injured men were rushed to Migori County Referral Hospital in critical condition.
Ochieng died on arrival at the hospital, while Jacob was admitted for treatment but later succumbed to his injuries at around 5 p.m., the report said.
The other two workers, identified as Elisha and Naaman, escaped the incident without injuries.
The bodies of the deceased were transferred to the hospital mortuary, where they are being preserved pending postmortem examinations.
Police said investigations into the incident are ongoing, with detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Nyatike handling the case, which has been recorded as pending under investigation.
Mining accidents are common in parts of Migori County, where informal and small-scale gold mining activities often take place with limited safety measures in place.