Exclusive: Mine workers demanded more protection before deadly Burkina Faso attack

FILE PHOTO: The sign of Canadian gold miner Semafo is pictured covered in black in memory of the victims of an attack on a road leading to the Boungou mine, operated by the company, at its headquarters in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso November 8, 2019. REUTERS/Anne Mimault

DAKAR (Reuters) - Five months before an ambush killed 39 colleagues, local workers at a Canadian-owned gold mine in Burkina Faso pleaded with managers to fly them to the site rather than go by a road that was prone to attacks, two people present at the meeting said.

The employees wanted the same protections as expatriate staff who had been flying to the mine in helicopters since three workers were killed in two earlier attacks in August 2018.