WAYNE Benjamin (Jnr), 23, who was trapped and killed when a section of a gold mining pit in which he was working at Winiperu in  Region Eight, caved in last Sunday, is to be buried today.
The body of Benjamin, who lived at 58 Vigilance South, East Coast Demerara,  will be interred at the neighbouring cemetery at Buxton after a period of viewing at his home.
His bereaved relatives yesterday confirmed that the contractor with whom he worked, had earlier in the day arrived in the City, following the tragedy, but said he had not yet met with them to offer any explanation as to how Wayne met his demise.
Adding that information received from others were sketchy, they said they learnt that around 17:30 h on Sunday, Wayne who was the General Manager at the mining pit at which they were working, was cleaning the ‘mark hole’, assisted by others.
They related that the soil in the area was moist following rainfall in previous days, and a portion of the mud wall suddenly collapsed.  Three persons in the pit were affected – Benjamin, a colleague known as ‘Mikey’ and another whose name was not confirmed.
In a mad rush and scamper for survival as the soil came tumbling down, the men impulsively scrambled at each other, but lost their grip. The two who were higher up, reportedly managed to escape, with minor injuries, but Benjamin who was at the bottom of the pit (about 30 feet below the surface) was trapped and absolutely covered with mud, sand and water.
The Contractor who was at the time cooking for the men, was alerted and with the help of the workforce, quickly got about  digging manually in an attempt to reach him, while others used a suction pump to pump the water away to facilitate their search.  He was later found dead and his body brought out to Georgetown via landcruiser.
Wayne Jnr., the fifth of eight siblings to his parents, Wayne and Bridgette Benjamin (a nurse at the Beterverwagting Health Centre), is a mechanic by profession. Relatives said he had decided to give Mining a try about one year ago.  He left his home for what turned out to be the ill-fated trip, about two to three weeks ago.
The young man’s demise came just about 18 months following the death of a 17-year-old sister in February last year.