Three persons were killed on Thursday morning as a result of a mining accident that occurred at Gbane, a mining community in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region.
The deceased, whose bodies have been deposited at the morgue of the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital, reportedly inhaled toxic fumes that emanated from blasts during the mining activity.
Eleven other miners who sustained various injuries were rushed to the hospital for treatment.
The Public Relations Officer of the Upper East Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr Thomas Agbanyo, who confirmed the incident in Bolgatanga on Friday, said five of the injured had been treated and discharged at the hospital, while the remaining six, some of them in critical condition, were still on admission at the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital.
He also said the issue was still under investigation.
The Public Relations Officer of Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited, Mr Maxwell Wooma, also told newsmen that 17 miners were trapped, but they were rescued immediately and rushed to the hospital.
He explained that the company was yet to come to terms with how the fumes entered the tunnel where the victims were mining since the blasts from which the smoke emanated were done in a different tunnel.
Investigation
According to him, the company was holding a management meeting after which a technical committee would be put in place to investigate the incident and come out with appropriate measures to protect the workers.
He appealed to the workers to exercise restraint and remain calm while the management handled the matter.
"We as management are emotionally distraught and we beg the bereaved families to exercise restraint while we fix the problem," Mr Wooma stated.
Victim
One of the victims on admission at the hospital, Mr Duunbil Muniru, expressed misgivings about the working conditions of the miners.
He complained about the lack of personal protective equipment at the site.
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