Summary The incident occurred in the Dara Bokach area in the morning when the workers were attempting to extract gold and became trapped under the collapsing soil
KOHAT (Dunya News) - Three workers were killed after a mound of earth collapsed during illegal gold mining in Gumbat tehsil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Kohat district on Sunday.
According to Gumbat police, the incident occurred in the Dara Bokach area in the morning when the workers were attempting to extract gold and became trapped under the collapsing soil.
Police said rescue teams recovered the bodies from the debris and shifted them to a local hospital.
A similar incident occurred in the same tehsil in January, when eight people lost their lives after a mound collapsed during gold extraction.
Illegal gold mining has been reported along the banks of the Indus River in various parts of Kohat. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said at a press conference on Saturday that around 90 kilograms of gold had been extracted from the area every month.
He also alleged that police came under attack during an operation against illegal gold mining in Kohat on Wednesday, leaving 10 police personnel, including a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), martyred.
According to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police, the attack targeted a police party returning after completing an operation against illegal gold mining. Police subsequently launched a retaliatory action, killing 18 alleged attackers.
Following the incident, Governor Kundi announced the cancellation of all gold mining lease agreements in the province, declaring that no one would be allowed to conduct gold mining from then onwards.
He also directed contractors to halt illegal mining activities and remove their heavy machinery within a week, warning that failure to comply would result in the confiscation of the equipment.
