A 21-year-old miner died shortly after a sandbank in the Mazaruni area collapsed last Friday burying him in the pit where he had been working.
Phillip France
Phillip France of Zeelugt, West Coast Demerara had already died by the time fellow miners dug him from the pit.
However, France was still taken to a medical centre where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
It was the latest in a series of such deaths.
“Friday about 1.30 in de afternoon this thing happen…he de working and I don’t know if he didn’t concentrating or wah,” fellow miner Randy Williams recalled. “There was this branka [sandbank] over he and it collapse all of a sudden and bury he in sand.”
According to Williams, it took him and other miners about five minutes to dig France from the pit. By the time they got the man out, he said, he wasn’t breathing and his neck appeared to be broken.
“There was a big tree root at de bottom of de pit he been working in,” Williams said yesterday. “I feel he head slam into that after all that sand fall on he.”
Meanwhile, France’s brother-in-law told Stabroek News yesterday that the young man lived with his grandparents.
France, according to him, was the only means of support for his grandmother. The owner of the mine, the man said, has indicated that he will stand the funeral expenses.
It is unclear whether the incident, which is classified as an industrial accident, has been reported to the relevant department of the Ministry of Labour. Efforts made to contact France’s employer were futile.
“He promised us that he will pay for the funeral,” France’s brother-in-law said. “But we didn’t hear anything about some sort of compensation for the grandparents…they need it right now because he used to provide for them.”
The incident occurred at a mine called `Surinamo’ which, according to France’s colleagues, is located in the vicinity of the Mazaruni River (Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni). France is one of several miners who have died recently in similar circumstances.
My condolences goes out to his family on the loss of their son, brother, nephew, ect, ect, a breadwinner is lost and now the family may have to fend for themselves, this kind of work is risky and dangerous, but someone has to do it, working anywhere is dangerous because accidents always happens.
While indeed industrial accidents do happen, their frequency, and level of consequences both to human life and materials depends on the practice employed in those industrial activities as well as monitoring by relevant government agencies. While mining in Guyana employs many and helps the country earn foreign exchange this accident emphasizes the need for effective monitoring of the industry both to protect the country’s environment, and the lives and property of the miners.
In the Mining sector lots of miners gets off without rendering compansation to the family. In the Forestry sector the NGO’s steps in with critics. Too much slackness is happening in the mining operations. Basic communication is lacking, no one is looking after the welfare of the employees in the mining operation, it’s like u are on a survival trip. I know of a few cases last year & this year where mining employees were being transported from the mining operation to the essequibo main land and an accident occur on the way and no one was accountable for about 9 persons, another person was bitten by snake and had’nt any money to go to the hospital and was rescue by kind hearted individuals. If was’nt for a certain logging company persons could died before reaching a hospital.
My deepest sympathy to the family, friends and relatives of the late Phillip France. May his soul rest in peace. This job is indeed hazardous and an untimely collapse of its retaining walls can be truly devastating to those who are actively working within. I once worked from a hospital and assisted in Malaria detection and treatment (collaborating Malaria microcropist) and had cause to visit many small mining pit sites. I looked at many of them (active and abandon) and believe you me, I would dread the thought of entering them. I will agree with you that someone has to do the work but it as if you are living on the edge. Perhaps the Geology & Mines Commission may be able to have a civil engineer or a mine engineer to set out some guidelines for successful pit mining. Indeed, this is a tragedy that represents an irreplaceable loss…
Very tragic.Miners should obtain a copy of safety regulations from the government.The most important one listed according to code is this.”Any excavation five feet below ground level, must be shored up(braced) on all sides, before any work is done in that excavated area.” For those mining on rock faces, ” for any work done on any scaffolding over five feet high above ground,the individual must be harnessed and the scaffolding equipped with safety rails no less than 42″ high all around.”
What a loss. My sympathy to his Grandparents and family. Just look at his picture…….. I can only imagine what may be going through the minds of his family.
Of concern is the frequency of these kinds of accidents. Would Mr. Manzoor Nadir or the competent authority introduce legislation in the National Assembly to address mine safety?
Mr. Mine Owner, when the newspaper calls or visits, answer up. Standing the funeral expenses is not even the beginning of this matter. Do you know what is called “worker’s compensation” for a worker killed in an industrial accident? This young man was 19 years old, Sir. Would you want your handsome son to be wasted like this? Family, go to Georgetown and find a good personal injury lawyer and sue the daylights out of this Mine Owner. Mines are supposed to be shored or barricaded to prevent cave-ins.
The Geology and Mines Commission need to put owners of mines through a six months compulsory course on mine safety BEFORE they are granted licences to operate mines. Guyana cannot afford to loose these young to be fathers and husbands. This country is simply depleting its reproductive stock.on top of that, wastefully.