Hommam Al Nassim 
Nigerian authorities announced that they had lost hope of finding at least 20 miners alive, more than a week after a collapse led to them being trapped inside the mine.
The incident, which occurred on June 3, led to the detention of artisanal miners employed by a local company in the village of Galkogo in Shiroro district in the central state of Niger.
“Any hope of finding the miners alive has vanished,” said Ibrahim Odeh Hosseini, an official at the government’s Emergency Management Agency. “It has been eight days since they were buried inside the hole.”
He pointed out that “the rescue operation did not officially stop, but the families of the miners, who are Muslims, performed prayers in absentia for their relatives who were considered dead.”
Due to the lack of necessary equipment, the authorities resorted to craftsmen to dig the rocks covering the hole using chisels, in a slow and laborious process.
The agency had initially announced that more than 30 workers were trapped under the mine, but police later revised the number to 20. However, Hosseini confirmed that testimonies from villagers and other workers indicated that the number trapped was more than 30 workers.
Last year, the Niger State government banned mining activities in Shiroro, Munya and Ravi areas due to their lack of safety and security standards, but artisanal miners continued to work to secure their daily livelihood, especially after many of them were forced to flee their homes and farms due to repeated attacks by bandits in the area.
20 people were killed in a Boko Haram attack in the Shiroro region in Nigeria