RUBANDA: A 27-year-old man in Rubanda district is missing after being buried alive in a quarry where he was mining stones for economic survival caved in on Wednesday afternoon along Hamuhambo-Muko road.
The deceased has been identified as Dan Muhereza, a resident of Murambo II village, Kitojo ward Bubaare town council. Muhereza met his demise on Wednesday afternoon at around 04:00 PM while quarrying stones in Haruhasha village, Bushuura ward, Hamuhambo town council.
Aggrey Bandebaho, the Hamuhambo town council LC3 Chairman says that while Muhereza was busy quarrying stones, the soils mixed with hard cores caved in covering him completely.
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Bandebaho says that the stone quarry belongs to Obed Natukunda a businessman in Hamuhambo trading centre. He says that the victim was working in casual labor.
According to Bandebaho, the victim’s two children who were also at the same quarry managed to run away and survived unhurt. He also says that hopes of finding Muhereza alive are almost NIL due to heavy stones and soils covering him.
He also says that locals’ efforts to use hoes and spades to retrieve the body failed, which forced him to alert district authorities for help. He attributes the problem to heavy rains the area has received over the last three days, making the soils very looose.
Charles Bernad Buturooha and Wilson Mugisha, uncles to the deceased say that the victim had spent more than a year quarrying stones in the same quarry for survival. They now want authorities to suspend operations of the quarry since it is a threat to lives. They also say that despite such a tragedy, it is difficult for locals to quit stone quarrying because it is a viable source of livelihood.
By 7:00 Pm police and locals gave up on using spades and hoes to remove the hard cores and soil from the quarry. District authorities also failed to get an excavator and only managed to improvise with a wheel loader. By press time, the wheel loader was still at work trying to remove the soils and hardcore to find the victim.
In December 2018, Victor Twinomujuni, a resident of Rwarubaya cell in Muko sub county, Rubanda district died after a sand quarry located in Mubwindi -Kagoye cell, in Muko Sub County, caved in.
