Kanyamishanga sand quarry cliff collapsed and covered the student completely
Kanungu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Rodney Aturinda, 17, a senior two student of Bright Future SS Kihihi died on the spot after a sand quarry collapsed and buried him alive as he was loading a tipper lorry together with other five people who sustained injuries in the incident.
The Kanungu Resident District Commissioner Shaffik Sekande said that after getting this information, he immediately brought a district bulldozer to the rescue and the body of the 17 year old boy was retrieved after residents had tried to retrieve it with hoes and spades in vain.
“The incident happened at Kanyamishanga village in Katete sub county, Kanungu district and the residents rescued five of the six victims and rushed them to Kambuga hospital for treatment,” he said.
He added that the five who survived with injuries were on one (the left) side of the tipper while the one who died was behind and was completely covered by sand.
“This is not the first person to lose life in a sand quarry, as two or three people die in this quarry every year because it is on a very high cliff,” he said.
He added that as the district security team, they have decided to temporarily suspend the mining of sand at Kanyamishanga village until the technical team ascertains the safety of the people mining sand.
He also condemned the loading of sand during the night to avoid taxes they are supposed to pay to the district.
The district communications officer Adam Mwajuma Twaha said the district tendered the sand mining pit to a private local company which charges 20,000 shillings to load a tipper lorry and those who escape paying come in the night to steal the sand.
Robert Mugisha, a resident of the area opines that the death of a secondary school student in the sand quarry came as the result of the prolonged lockdown due to Covid-19.
“After closure of schools for a complete year now, most students are redundant in the village and looking for something to do,” he said.
He added that if it was not for the shutdown of the schools, Rodney Arinda would not have died because he would have been at school. He said for loading a tipper lorry, they are paid Shs 10,000 and they can load it within only 20 minutes.
The district chairperson elect of Kanungu district, Engineer Sam Arinaitwe Kajojo said on phone that he has a program for all sand pit quarries so that no more such occurrences leading to the loss of life are experienced ever again.
“There is no way we can like money more than the lives of the people,” he said. “When you reach that sand quarry, you see that it is too risky for one to load the tipper lorry at such a cliff.”
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