A 55-year-old Brazilian man was, on Tuesday, crushed to death in an underground tunnel at Puruni Mines, Region Seven.

DEAD is Jose Cicero Ferreira Pereira known as ‘Garapal’, who was employed at the Hard Rock Mining Company as a maintenance worker.

The Guyana Chronicle understands that Pereira was killed on Tuesday around 00:20h when he was working at the top of the shaft section of the mining pit with another man.
The men were pumping water from the tunnel which is 80 feet below the earth’s surface.
However, there was a problem with the pump and Pereira was lowered into the tunnel to clear the hole.

After 15 minutes went by and Pereira did not signal to be winched up, the other worker became worried and went to the the site’s manager, Paulo Matis De Souza.

The site manager was lowered into the tunnel and found Pereira lying face down in an unconscious state, with a rock weighing in excess of 200 lbs on his head.
Pereira died while being brought out of the tunnel.

A post mortem done on Wednesday confirmed that Pereira died due to injuries to the head.