Cerminary! 4 Traditional Gold Miners In Bengkulu Lebong Died In A 40-meter Lure, Allegedly Energying

Joint officers evacuated the bodies of four traditional gold miners in Lebong Regency, Bengkulu/Via ANTARA Province

BENGKULU - Four traditional gold miners were found dead in a mining dug hole with a depth of about 40 meters in Lebong Regency, Bengkulu Province. Lebong Police Chief AKBP Awilzan said the four traditional gold miners were found by residents on Thursday before dawn at around 04.00 WIB in the mine pit of Tik Aseak, Ketenong I Village, Pinang Belayan District, Lebong Regency. "The four victims died allegedly due to running out of oxygen while in a hole as deep as 40 meters," he said when contacted in Lebong, Antara, Thursday, September 8. The four traditional gold miners who died were Aryanto (30), Iwan (32), and Rizki (27). The three residents of Air Kopras Village, Pinang Belayan District, and another Madon (25), a resident of Muara Rupit Village, Muratara Regency, South Sumatra. Previously, three people from the victim's family conducted a search after the miners had not returned home since leaving to mine gold on Tik Aseak on Saturday, August 3, 2022. The three victims' families, namely Hendra, Heru and Rus, searched by tracing the mining pits suspected of being entered by the victims. According to the Police Chief, the chronology of the incident began when the four victims left together last Saturday at around 08.00 WIB to the gold mine of the Tik Aseak hole to look for gold vessels. Then on Thursday morning at around 02.00-03.00 WIB, one of the victim's family found the miner's belongings buried in the Aseak Tik hole. "They then reported the findings to the Head of Air Kopras Village that the four victims were suspected of being buried in one of the Aseak Tik holes," he explained. At around 10.00 WIB, the four dead traditional gold miners were finally successfully evacuated by joint TNI/Polri officers, BPBD, Lebong Health Office, as well as the families of the victims and residents.