A quiet trip to gather firewood has ended in heartbreak at Wassa Dunkwa in the Amenfi West Municipality of the Western Region, where a 42-year-old woman and three children drowned in an abandoned illegal mining pit.
The victims include the woman and three boys, two of them her biological children and the other her nephew. The eldest child was 14 years old.
The tragic incident occurred on Saturday afternoon near a galamsey site that residents say has long posed a danger to the community.
According to reports, the family had gone to fetch dried cocoa trees for firewood, a routine they were familiar with.
After gathering the wood and placing their loads by the roadside, the boys reportedly entered the water-filled pit to swim.
When the mother noticed they were struggling, she rushed in to save them, but sadly drowned as well.
“Illegal miners left the pit uncovered and, as a result, some children have been going there to swim. After seeing her children drowning, she decided to save them. Some people who were passing by came to their rescue, but all of them, including the mother, were already gone. This is not the first time such an incident has occurred. The husband is currently traumatised,” she said.
The Asankrangwa Divisional Police Command conveyed the bodies to the Catholic Hospital in Asankragwa, where they have been deposited at the morgue pending autopsy.
The tragedy has renewed concerns about abandoned galamsey pits and the risks they pose to families in mining communities.
