A 28-year-old woman, Rosette Mwikirize, and her 10-year-old daughter, Berinah Abeneitwe, were buried alive in a sand quarry in Kabale district on Monday evening. Residing in Hamuganda village, Bukora parish, Kitumba sub-county, the mother and daughter were engaged in sand mining at the quarry when a wall collapsed, burying them under the soil.
Residents used hoes and spades to dig up their bodies late at night. Elly Maate, the police spokesperson for the Kigezi region, confirmed the incident, stating that the deceased have been transported to Kabale Regional Referral Hospital for postmortem examinations.
The incident has been recorded at Kabale police station under file number CRB 965/2023. This isn’t the first occurrence of sand miners being buried alive in Kabale. In July 2022, Emmanuel Twishime from Mariba village, Nyamiyaga parish, Rubaya Sub-County, Gicumbi district in Rwanda, met a similar fate while mining sand in Kiyovu village, Kacerere ward, Ryakarimira town council in Kabale district.
In April 2021, a sand mining pit collapse led to the burial of Edwin Niwagaba and Simon Arinaitwe in Nyakyonga and Rukaranga villages in Kamuganguzi sub-county.
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