Kyebi(E/R), Dec. 14, GNA-A nine member committee chaired by the Dep= uty Eastern Regional Police Commander, Mr Gyamera Yeboah, to investigate the drowning a first year student of Abuakwa State College has been inaugurat= ed at Kyebi. The boy is believed to have fallen into an abandoned galamsey pit filled with water behind the school compound at Kyebi. The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo inaugurated t= he committee which has other members as a representative of the East Akim Municipal Directorate of Education, a representative of the Akyem Abuakwa=

Traditional Council, the Regional Head of the Bureau of National Investigations(BNI), the Regional Security Coordinator, a representative of the Students Representative Council and a representative of the school's Parents-Teacher Association(PTA) with the Coordinating Director of the E= ast Akim Municipal Assembly as a member secretary.

The 15 year old student who is a Muslim was buried at Kyebi after t= he necessary medical and legal documentation had been completed. The family of the deceased were represented by a team led by Shaikh=

Sibawe Zakaria of the Islamic University in Accra. There were conflicting reports as to how the deceased and his frien= d found their way to the mining site which is outside the school compound Students had been warned not to go near those trenches that had bee= n dug and left behind the school by illegal gold miners. The headmaster of the school, Mr Nicholas Yeboah Ani-Adjei, who was=

visiting the sick child of the driver of the school at the Kyebi Governme= nt Hospital when the incident occurred could not say exactly who or what sen= t the Freshman and his friend to the pit. He said when he was informed about the incident, he rushed to the school but when he mobilized some of the teachers to get to the pit, the body of the deceased could not be found in the water and so he engaged a diver from the Kyebi township who could not also help after which he call= ed the Eastern Regional Minister for help.

Mr Ani-Adjei said the Regional Minister managed to arrange with the=

Suhum Fire Station to help but the fire tender could not get access to th= e pit. The school had to borrow a water pump from the Okyenhene's palace which was used to pump out the water from the pit throughout Monday night=

until 06.30 on Tuesday when the body was located at the bottom of the lar= ge pit. He said with the help of the police, the body was taken to the Kyeb= i Government Hospital morgue for autopsy. Students of the school embarked on a demonstration to sympathise wi= th their dead colleague and the wanton destruction of land by illegal miners= at Kyebi when his body was discovered. Later in an address after the school authorities had calmed the students down and assembled them in the school assembly hall, the School Senior Prefect, Master Asante Amoako, called for a solution to the water crisis on campus. He also appealed for the covering up all the pits left behind by th= e illegal miners who came to mine close to the school compound and the fenc= ing of the school compound so that they could feel more secure on campus. The Regional Minister expressed the condolence of the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) and the Government to the school authorities, the students, and the family of the deceased and assured them of the determination of the RCC to get all the pits around the school covered to=

protect all people in Kyebi.

He announced that the RCC would bear the burial expenses of the bereaved family. Mr Ofosu-Ampofo explained that in a bid to eliminate the dangers th= at illegal miners pose to Kyebi and the surrounding communities, the RCC organized the police cum military exercise culminating in the arrest suspects and seizing of 170 water pumps and seven excavators. He expressed the hope that the judiciary would handle the case fair= ly to support efforts to protect the society from dangers and the long term environmental degradation that the illegal mining is imposing on the society. The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the School, Wing Commander(rtd) Charles Addo called for the arrest and prosecution of all those involved in the illegal mining around the school compound. Present at the funeral were members of the PTA, the Board of Governors, students and the Okyenhenmaa, Nana Dokua Twumwaa and representatives of the Okyenhene. The deceased student of Abuakwa State College is the third person t= o have drowned in the uncovered pits left by the illegal miners in the Kyeb= i area within two years. Two pupils from the same family lost their lives in one of the pits=

and have since been buried in Kyebi last year under mysterious circumstances. Nobody was arrested though the people who negligently left the pit uncovered for the incident to occur are well known to the community.