Johannesburg - Sunday marks the 57th day since three mineworkers - Pretty Nkambule, Yvonne Mnisi and Solomon Nyirenda were trapped beneath the ground when a container used as a lamp room was buried after a rock fall at Lily Mine, south of Barberton, in Mpumalanga on Friday, February 5.
The Lily trio were surface workers who could not be rescued, while more than 80 underground workers were successfully brought back to base shortly after the cave-in.
Several rescue efforts have failed, even after attempts to drill a second exit into the shaft in which they are believed to be located.
As things stand, foreign experts called in have indicated it will take up to six months to retrieve the three after mechanical faults have so far stalled operations to save them.
In the meantime, the grieving families of the affected have discontinued their vigil on the premises of the mine and have gone back home.
While Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane has promised monetary reparations for the families of all miners involved in the collapse, the final piece of news is yet to come - the recovery of the three workers, dead or miraculously alive.
The Sunday Independent
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