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A 19-year-old boy has drowned in a waterlogged galamsey pit at Chiene, a farming community in the Bibiani Anhwiaso Bekwai Municipality of the Western North Region, spotlighting the deadly legacy of illegal mining operations.
The victim, identified as Herod Cobbina, who tragically drowned while allegedly participating in illegal mining operations at the abandoned site. Local sources confirm Cobbina was among a group of young men engaging in galamsey activities when the incident occurred. His death has plunged the Chiene community into mourning.
A grief-stricken Nana Kwabena Nipa III, the bereaved father, struggled to hold back tears as he addressed journalists. “I was weeding my cassava farm when the call came,” the distraught parent recalled, his voice breaking. “They told me my son—my promising young Herod—was gone, taken by these death traps we call galamsey pits.”
His testimony punctuated the raw anguish spreading through Chiene, where abandoned mining sites now bear the bitter cost of illegal operations in human lives.
When Nana Kwabena Nipa III arrived at the scene, the horrific sight of his son’s lifeless body—freshly pulled from the murky waters—confirmed his worst fears.
Now, the grieving father and community leader voices disturbing suspicions: “This was no accident,” he told journalists, his steady tone belying his anguish. “The details don’t add up. My son knew these pits well.”
The tragic drowning of Herod Cobbina has reignited urgent calls to address Ghana’s abandoned galamsey pits, as these unsecured mining sites continue to claim lives – predominantly youth – across mining regions. This preventable death highlights the accelerating human cost of inadequate pit reclamation efforts.”
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