A Form 4 student died in Karapul, Siaya county on Friday evening after two heavy stones caved in on him inside a quarry.
It is suspected that George Otieno Omondi, 18, a student at Siaya Township Secondary School was mining pebbles in Musere when the stones collapsed and killed him.
“I received a phone call and rushed to the scene where I found the body of Omondi lying next to two stones inside a hole,” Karapul Sub Location Assistant Chief Dorcas Olimbo confirmed.
Olimbo explained that the hole looked like a stone mining site.
“The place looked like a stone mining site. We suspect they do mine stones and crush them into gravel.”
The administrator said that the deceased was with his colleague who has since been rushed to the hospital for emergency medical attention.
The body of Omondi was taken to Siaya County Referral Hospital Mortuary.
Evans Otieno, a resident, urged quarry workers in the area to desist from ’employing’ children.
“We suspect that they had been given that job by someone for pay,” Otieno observed.
His sentiment was echoed by the area assistant chief who said that the crime amounts to child labour.
Also, Otieno called on the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to swing in and close unlicensed mining sites.
Olimbo who said that there are so many quarries in the area urged quarry workers to avoid going into the sites oblivious of the collapsing stones, occasioned by the rains currently pounding the region.
She called on the quarry workers to form the habit of re-filling already excavated depressions that put the lives of both humans and animals in danger.
