KAKAMEGA, Kenya — At least three miners died on Saturday evening after a shaft collapsed at an artisanal gold mining site in Savane area, Wangoto village, in what police described as yet another fatal incident in Kakamega’s expanding but poorly regulated mining belt.
Police said the miners — identified as Brytone Wendo, 18, Elvis Shamora, 25, and Joseph Amuhaya, 26 — were inside the shaft extracting ore when its walls caved in. Fellow miners rushed to rescue them, but the effort was unsuccessful.
Their bodies were retrieved minutes later and moved to a local mortuary pending autopsies and a formal investigation.
The latest accident adds to a growing list of fatal collapses reported in recent months across gold mining sites in western and northern Kenya. Police say artisanal miners in Siaya, Migori, West Pokot, Moyale, Nandi, Transmara, and Kakamega continue to face high risk due to unsafe pits, lack of protective gear, and desperate economic conditions pushing villagers deeper into unstable shafts.
“Some of the sites are extremely deep and poorly supported. Many miners operate without any protective equipment,” a senior security official in Kakamega said, noting that investigations have repeatedly pointed to negligence and dangerous excavation practices driven by competition for quick returns.
Local administrators and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) have recently intensified campaigns promoting safer mining practices and stricter compliance with environmental requirements.
But tensions have been rising around proposed commercial mining projects, complicating efforts to enforce safety standards.
Thursday’s deadly confrontation during a public participation forum in Kakamega underscored the depth of the standoff. Four people were killed and 25 injured when a group opposed to a planned gold exploration venture stormed the meeting, wielding crude weapons.
Police officers and NEMA officials were among those injured. Authorities later arrested 56 suspects in a sweeping operation, saying the clash amounted to a direct attack on lawful government processes.
The government has pledged full investigations into both the violence and the ongoing mining tragedies, but residents say economic desperation fuels continuous returns to the unsafe pits. Artisanal mining remains a primary source of livelihood in many villages, despite repeated cave-ins that have claimed dozens of lives this year alone.
Meanwhile, in Migori County, police have launched a separate probe after a 16-year-old boy was found dead in a neighbour’s compound in Got Orango, Macalder area, on Sunday. Officers said the body did not show visible injuries and was taken to the mortuary for post-mortem examination as detectives investigate a suspected murder.
The two incidents deepen concerns over rural safety gaps, with local leaders urging the government to fast-track regulation, invest in community policing, and ensure mining communities receive adequate support to prevent further loss of life.
