At least 12 miners have so far been rescued after a gold mine collapsed at Khayega in Kakamega.
The walls of the mineshaft are said to have collapsed at around 6 pm Monday leaving 20 miners who were inside excavating trapped.
A multi-agency team from the Kenya Red Cross, county disaster, the police and the local community managed to rescue eight of them immediately after the incident occurred.
Those rescued, police said, had no injuries.
Shinyalu sub-county police commander Daniel Makumbu told the press that the search and rescue operations are ongoing until all the miners are accounted for.
This is as he urged residents to exercise caution around the collapsed area.
“The area around the collapsed shaft is risky and we are not going to allow people to mill near it because we do not want more casualties,” he said.
There were hopes that those trapped could still be found alive, despite the significant risks involved in the rescue efforts.
Kakamega is known to have abundant gold deposits, making it a hotspot for artisanal miners looking to earn a living.
The risks involved have, however, caused deaths in the recent past.
In 2023, two miners were killed after the walls of an underground gold mine caved in on them in Ikolomani.
Despite making significant sums, the mining sector has remained informal for the nine decades since the discovery of gold in Kakamega in 1932.
The government has already pledged support for the miners in the region which includes the development of a gold refinery.
