Eighth and last missing miner found dead in flooded Burkina Faso mine

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – The body of the last of eight miners who drowned in a Burkina Faso zinc mine owned by Trevali Mining Corp when it flooded on April 16 was found on Monday, the government said.

The seven other bodies have been recovered gradually from the mine’s underground passages since May 24, when the first four were discovered.

Hopes of finding any survivors had already dissolved by then, as rescue teams had found no one inside a chamber in which there had been a slim chance that the eight missing miners who had not managed to resurface might have sought shelter.

“After 66 days of searching, the eight miners who disappeared after the flooding… have finally all been found dead,” the government said in a statement.

The victims were six Burkina Faso nationals, one Tanzanian and one Zambian.

The Perkoa mine was flooded after torrential rain fell unexpectedly during the West African country’s dry season.

Both the government and Canada-based Trevali have opened investigations into the incident.

(Reporting by Thiam Ndiga; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Sandra Maler)