ATAA AND OTHERS V. ASHANTI GOLDFIELDS CORPORATION AND OTHERS

MENSA BOISON J.

On 19 November 1963 a very distressing accident occurred in the gold mines of the first defendants at Obuasi as a result of which one Kofi Boateng died. The said Kofi Boateng was employed by the first defendants as an underground workman. On the aforesaid date, the deceased and other miners were being hauled up from the 23rd level station of a mine shaft to the surface, when the cage carrying the men ran away and dropped into the bottom of the flooded shaft. The cage was submerged, and needless to say, the deceased and the other occupants died.

In consequence of the death the defendants paid compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1963 (Act 174), to the first plaintiff for herself and on behalf of the four infant plaintiffs, as widow and children respectively of the late Kofi Boateng. The first plaintiff, however, now brings this action in negligence for the benefit of herself and the four infant plaintiffs as dependants of the deceased against the first defen…