Eight men were trapped on April 16 at the bottom of a mine west of Ouagadougou after torrential rains that flooded underground galleries.
Le Monde
The lifeless body of one of the eight minors wedged underground since April 16 in a zinc mine in Burkina Faso was found on Wednesday June 8, bringing the number of deaths to seven, the Burkinabé government announced.
“It is confirmed by the authorized services that a seventh body has actually been found,” said a government statement which adds that research “continues to find the last body”.
earlier, the spokesman for the government Lionel Bilgo had announced the discovery of the eighth body, before changing his mind explaining that the authorities of the Perkoa mine who had transmitted the information were “wrong”.
The eight minors – six Burkinabés, a Zambian and a Tanzanian – were trapped on April 16 at the bottom of this mine west of Ouagadougou and operated by the Canadian Company Trevali Mining, after torrential rains that have flooded underground galleries where they worked 700 meters underground.
On May 28, the bodies of two minors were found 43 days after their disappearance at 580 meters deep. Four days earlier, four other minors were first found. The nationality of deceased minors has not yet been established, according to the government.
Since their disappearance, no contact had been established with them, but the rescuers have long hoped that they had sheltered in a “refuge chamber” located 580 meters deep, where survival kits Including water, food and drugs are usually stored. The rescuers had discovered this empty room on May 17, making hopes for finding the living minors almost zero.