Two teenage boys were killed on Tuesday after a pit collapsed at an abandoned gold mining site in Nyimbadu village, in Sierra Leone’s Eastern Province.
The victims were identified as Mohamed Bangura, 16, and Yayah Jenneh, 17. According to local residents, both boys left home on Monday morning to search for gold as a way to support their families. They did not return.
Villagers later discovered that a pit they had been digging had collapsed. Attempts to rescue them were unsuccessful.
A relative of one of the boys said, “They went out together in the morning to mine. When evening came and they did not return, we went to look for them and found the pit had fallen.”
Local officials confirmed that this is the third fatal mining accident involving children in the area in the past four years, bringing the death toll to at least five children in similar incidents.
The mining site is part of a growing number of unregulated gold pits across the province. With diamond mining declining in the region, many residents have turned to informal gold digging as a source of income.
A local school headteacher said the situation is affecting education in the area. “More children are missing school because they believe mining can give them fast money. But the danger is real,” he said.
Community members say mining pits are being dug on farmland, near rivers, and around residential areas without safety supports. The pits often reach several meters deep and have no protective structures.
Following the incident, village elders called for action from the government to restrict mining by children and to introduce safety checks at informal mining sites.
As of Wednesday, no official government statement had been released.
The two boys were buried on Tuesday afternoon in their home village.
