Police in Ghana have detained 86 illegal miners who entered the Obuasi Mine of AngloGold Ashanti underground.
The largest gold mining business in Ghana's security and police forces were waiting to receive them as they emerged from the mine's underground through one of its main shafts.
The accused are still being processed for court while being held in police custody.
They allegedly used unauthorised entrances to the underground.
The illegal miners apparently had little choice but to leave the main shaft because the mining business had blocked up the unauthorised tunnels.
According to the authorities, three of them were able to avoid being apprehended.
The first to emerge were around 38 of them, who were then detained.
On Monday, May 29, 2023, seven illegal miners were apprehended after exiting a hole.
The others were unwilling to go, so they raised the alarm that they were stuck underneath.
This caused unrest in the gold mining community of Obuasi, where relatives of the alleged culprits gathered and staged a protest.
Soldiers and protesters are at odds.
In the midst of the raid on the illegal miners, heavily armed police and military fired rounds to scatter the demonstrators.
Then, on Tuesday, rumours began to circulate that hundreds more miners were trapped underneath.
On Tuesday, the Obuasi Mine's administration reacted, stating that no one was trapped and that those underground were unwilling.
Unauthorised individuals are allowed to depart underground, according to a statement released by AngloGold on Tuesday.
The main escape ramp from the mine is still available, and no one has been imprisoned in any form beneath it, according to the corporation.
The illegal miners' relatives claimed that they had been stranded without food or water for days.
Dozens of those who exited the vehicle were detained for operating outside the law.
All people who were allegedly imprisoned underground have apparently escaped as of Thursday AM (June 1, 2023), with 86 of them being detained by law enforcement.
Authorities claimed that despite the tragedy, fresh people continued to enter the subterranean system covertly.
The 126-year-old Obuasi Mine is threatened by illicit miners breaking into the subterranean.
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