A 37-year-old miner, Osman Bangura alias Malimba of Niama Jahtown Kangama Gorama Mende Chiefdom in Kenema district, has drowned in the Sewa River while trying to fish out diamonds with some of his colleagues.
According to police constable 9592 Kadie Turay of the Community Relations Department (CRD) of the Kenema police division, the deceased was the first person to dive into the river to extract some gravel from the river bed.
He then signaled to his colleagues to lift him up. This was done and he came out hale and hearty and then sat on the dugout canoe. He reportedly lit a cigarette and smoked for awhile. But few minutes after that, he fell off the canoe into the river.
Another co-miner, named David, dove into the river to rescue his colleague. But after several minutes of search, Osman was later found with his head stuck on the riverbed.
He was already dead by the time he was fished out from the river and taken to the nearest police.
The corpse has since been buried while police continue their investigations
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