BOSAI suspends production to facilitate search for missing employee

….All agencies on board, high technology equipment now being used to expedite recovery

One of the areas being searched at the East Montgomery Mines

BOSAI Minerals Group Guyana has suspended production and all other operations at its East Montgomery Mines as all efforts are underway to find employee Neptrid Hercules who is missing since Saturday morning following an industrial accident in the mines. In a statement from BOSAI, the company said that Hercules during the night shift was operating a CAT DOT DOZER which experienced a failure and was subsequently covered in overburden.

While recovery efforts are suspended after dark on instructions from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), an active search and rescue mission continues via an inter-agency collaborative effort. On Monday Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, Minister of Public Works Bishop Juan Edghill and Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat visited the mines on a fact-finding mission to determine the cause of the accident, to give assurance to the family and to give directive to the company on the way forward. Presently special equipment is on site to enhance the rescue capacity of the team. Included in the mission is GGMC, the Occupational Safety and Health Unit of the Ministry of Labour, and the safety department at BOSAI.

The government ministers asked that Lindeners support the family during this difficult time.

Government Ministers and other regional officials visiting relatives of Hercules

Meanwhile Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton spoke on the reason for the suspension of the search during evening hours and the need to also exercise safety for the employees executing the search. The two main reasons were instability of the terrain and poor visibility at nights.

“So the safety issue was the important issue because the worst thing we can want to happen is that we end up with more people underground and so all the technical people that are there consulted and took into consideration the safety of everyone.

“This was not a willy-nilly suspension, these are technical people who are sound … they consulted and made a determination that it might be useful and better that we return in bright daylight to do this,” Minister Hamilton related.

Hercules was an employee of BOSAI for over four decades and was said to retire this year.