Five people including a one-year-old girl have been buried alive in a galamsey pit at Akookoso in the Amansie Central district of the Ashanti region.

According to reports, the one-year-old girl went into the galamsey pit with her parents where they met their untimely death.

ASP Prince Odoom, Commander of the Jacobu district who confirmed the news to XYZ News stated that the girl together with her parents and two others entered the abandoned pit to search for gold but unfortunately the pit caved in on them.

He revealed that seven others who also went to dig for gold at the same area escaped after the incident happened.

The bodies have however been pulled out of the pit and have been flown to a nearby hospital for autopsy.

The country has been plagued with the activities of illegal mining with the environment being the worst affected.

Hundreds of people have in recent times lost their lives in galamsey operations in various parts of the country.

The President, John Mahama recently set up an Inter-Ministerial Task Force against Illegal Mining.

The first phase of the operation, conducted in 2013, saw the task force dismantling hundreds of illegal gold mining sites in the country and evicting thousands of illegal miners, including Chinese, from the sites.