Two people died on Thursday while two others were critically injured when the walls of a quarry they were working on collapsed on them at Chaka in Nyeri County.
The deceased were part of a three-man team that was working in a pit at the Gikindu quarries when a wall caved in on them at around 10am.
A witness Stephen Wachira who was working alongside the deceased said he heard a loud bang and managed to escape death narrowly.
Wachira said that one of the casualties was in his thirties while the second was in his late sixties.
He added that other miners rushed to the scene in an attempt to dig out their colleagues from the deadly pit as they mobilized rescue teams.
Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga who visited the scene said “The soils and materials in this area are generally weak and the bad weather could have contributed to the disaster. And quarry owners need to accept when the resources are depleted.”
Kahiga said that an inspectorate team from the environment department would be dispatched to assess all the quarries in the area.
He added, “all the quarries will be inspected because we want to ensure our people are safe. We will also be sensitizing them on safety measures because we have noted most of them do not have safety equipment”.
By Beth Ndirangu.
