Morocco Offers Aid to Rescue Miners Trapped for a Month in Burkina Faso

Six Burkinabe, one Zambian and one Tanzanian have been trapped since April 16 in an underground gallery of the Perkoa zinc mine, about a hundred kilometers west of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. According to the government, "the European Union and Morocco offer to support Burkina Faso in this rescue operation of the eight Perkoa miners. The Burkinabe government has already transmitted to its partners the list of needs, particularly in technical equipment and human resources," reports TelQuel.

On the mine site, the work of pumping the water that has flooded the underground gallery continues. "There has been significant progress in the search work for the miners trapped in the mine’s underground," said Hein Frey, the general manager of the Perkoa mine, before the government delegation.

The chamber in which the miners could be located is at 580 meters. "No effort is too much," said the Minister of Mines and Quarries, who also announced the arrival in the next few hours of other pumping equipment.

Last Sunday, on the occasion of Labor Day, the Burkinabe Prime Minister Albert Ouédraogo visited the site where he promised an investigation to determine the responsibilities in the flooding of the mine.