THREE illegal diamond panners from Buhera died after the shaft they were working on along Makodzi River collapsed and trapped them inside early Wednesday morning.

The three were among 15 panners who had evaded security details patrolling the area, to sneak into the Diamond Mining Company concession.

Headman Chiadzwa who also toured the site where the panners were trapped on Thursday morning confirmed the death.

He said the incident happened hardly 24 hours after he had held a meeting with his subjects warning them against panning.

“Initially we were told that 15 people had perished and the figure rose to 20 but I can confirm that three bodies were retrieved from this area, we are worried about the influx of panners into this area and we hope more deployments of law enforcement agency will be done soon,” said the headman.

A villager and also an illegal diamond panner Liberty Tsvairai who arrived at the scene moments after the incident said the panners had dug a tunnel along the river bank and it collapsed while they were inside “I arrived moments after it had happened and we gathered that they were a group of 15 people working in one of the tunnels which eventually collapsed.

“We witnessed three bodies being pulled out of the rubbles while four injured panners were taken to the hospital. Some of the survivors managed to swim to safety,” said Tsvairai.

An excavator was used to remove the rubbles and the rescue team had to open a water way to allow them access to where the panners were trapped.

Tsvaira said they were witnessing an influx of panners from all over the province since the closing of the diamond mines last week. Most of them are sneaking into the concession at night risking their lives in the process.

When The Manica Post visited the site yesterday (Thursday) tunnels were all over the river banks some of them stretching for almost 10 metres, some of the panners’ tools of the trade like crowbars were abandoned at the site.

Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs, Mandi Chimene also toured the site and had a meeting with the traditional leaders and law enforcement agents deployed in the area. by Cletus Mushanawani. Source: manicapost