Burkina Faso: eight gold miners are killed at the Bissa Gold mining site in Sabcè
Operation of a gold mine in Burkina Faso.
(illustrative image) Getty Images / Vostok
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
These gold miners had smuggled into the site of the Bissa Gold mining company in the town of Sabcè, north-central region.
The artisanal miners accuse the police in charge of securing the mine of having used tear gas to drive out their comrades, which would be the cause of the latter's death.
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With our correspondent in Ouagadougou,
Yaya Boudani
The incident occurred Wednesday afternoon.
According to the prosecutor of Faso, illegal miners would have fraudulently entered disused pits belonging to the mining company Bissa Gold.
The national police claim to have intervened to dissuade the artisanal miners from leaving the area, without mentioning the means used.
"
A few moments, the gold miners came to tell the elements of the CRS that some of their comrades would still be in the galleries
" can we read in the press release.
Survivors, whose testimonies were collected by the prosecution, report the use of tear gas which led to "
panic and suffocation of illegal miners
" estimated at around forty people.
The prosecutor informs that a procedure against X will soon be investigated for manslaughter.
Angry, the gold miners stormed the facilities of the mining company.
Several vehicles were set on fire and other equipment ransacked.
An investigation carried out by the Sabcé district police station following the invasion of the mine led to the arrest of at least four people and, again, the prosecutor reports that all those implicated will answer for their actions.
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Burkina Faso