ENTEBBE, UGANDA: The Police in Wakiso district have recovered bodies of five men who were buried alive after part of stone quarry where they were working caved in on Saturday evening.
According to Luke Owoyesigyire, the Kampala Metropolitan Area Deputy Spokesperson, the incident happened around 6:30pm after part of the stone quarry collapsed and trapped unknown number of people and a vehicle under its rubble in Nganjo cell, Namulanda ward in Kajjansi Town Council.
The deceased have been identified as Abdu Nsumba, a driver of a truck who had gone to load stones from the quarry while the other four; Ronald Kaggwa, Vincent Kasule, Junior Irumba and Posiano Lubogo were casual laborers at the site.
Owoyesigyire said that the vehicle was loading crushed stones when the incident happened. He made it clear that investigations into the matter are on to ascertain what happened.
“The rescue teams are still at the quarry excavating to establish whether there are more people trapped in the debris. The five bodies that were retrieved from the debris have been taken to morgue for a post-mortem,” Owoyesigyire said.
Dozens of residents including local leaders gathered at the quarry on Saturday to help in evacuating those trapped under the rubble.
Canaan Nsubuga, who is the youth councillor in the area feared that more people could have been trapped in the quarry. He says an excavator was brought to the site last night.
On Sunday morning, residents told the media that the vehicle was recovered on Saturday night while five bodies were recovered on Sunday morning.
The Kampala metropolitan area has several stone quarries that employ thousands of people, but they have become a threat to the neighbours and even the workers operating in them.
Stone business in the city is lucrative given the high demand for materials in the construction sector.
The demand has seen miners risk their lives even in quarries with limited space to eke out a living from the business.
The miners, using handheld tools, have resorted to digging deeper in the quarries despite employing no safety measures.
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