Seventeen bodies have so far been recovered from the collapsed pit at Dunkwa-on-Offin, but the search has now been abandoned and the pit is to be covered altogether. According to Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines this is the result of the decomposed state of the latest vicitims to be pulled out of the thick mud that burried the miners. Four more bodies of the illegal miners popularly called galamsey operators were recovered from the collapsed pit to bring the number to 17. It is still unclear the total number of miners trapped and suffocated to death in the Sunday disaster. Some survivors of the disaster said there were about 120 workers in the pit before it collapsed, however the owner of the pit who is assisting the police in investigations said the number of casualties could not be more than 20. Joy FM’s Central Regional Correspondent Kweku Owusu Peprah reports Friday that one of the recovered bodies was without a head. And according to the minister, while rescue workers claim there were more bodies in the mud, it was thought the pit should be sealed over the bodies after the chiefs had performed certain rituals. Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana