Five illegal miners have died after being trapped underground since Thursday evening, when the 90m-deep Bosveld Mine in Pongola, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, collapsed.
It is alleged that there were 13 illegal gold miners inside the isolated mine in the hilly and dusty village of Klipwal, when it caved in.
Of the 13 miners, three were arrested for illegal mining and are scheduled to appear in court on Monday, five fled, and the remaining five were trapped and subsequently died. It appears that the miners are from Lesotho.
It's believed that the miners who fled alerted people in the village about the trapped miners they had left behind.
After a search that took just over two hours yesterday, the rescue team led by Jack Haskins, that included K9 rescue services, a dog search unit squad and medical personnel, called off their search.
Haskins said it was too dangerous to continue with the search, as the mine was riddled with cracks and rockfalls: “I can’t put my team at risk.
”After the search, the rescue team concluded that all five miners trapped were dead, as there were no human responses from a distance of about 20m. Shortly after emerging from the mine, Haskins told Independent Media: “It’s a rest in peace for them now. We can’t do anything there.”
Previously, Haskins had said they could talk to the one miner from a distance, through a barricade of rocks.
A search team member who chose not to be named said that on Friday morning they could still talk to the trapped miner, although he responded with a “fainted voice”.
“He told us that the other miners were dead. And he pleaded for help, but we couldn’t get to him.
”When rescuers returned at midday on Saturday, no one responded, and it was concluded that all five were dead.
Haskins' team included rescuers from eMpangeni, Richards Bay, Pietermaritzburg and uLundi.
A security guard at the mine, who didn’t want to be named, said they have repeatedly warned the illegal miners, who are known as Zama-Zamas (hustlers), to stop their activities, because it was unsafe. But their warning fell on deaf ears.
“I’m sick and tired of the Zama-Zamas. Believe me, even after the deaths of these people, they will come back and mine again,” said the guard.
According to the locals, the illegal miners use hammers and chisels to do their mining activities, mostly at night.
It was unclear who their bosses are, but locals believe that there are powerful people working behind the scenes.
A steel door lies next to the entrance of the mine, and claims are that it was hacked off by the illegal miners, in order to gain access to the mine.
This is the latest in a series of such incidents.
There are still miners trapped underground - long presumed dead - at the Lily Mine near Barberton.
There were no relatives of the miners present during the search on Saturday.
A throng of local residents stood at the entrance to the mine, with some expressing their shock at the incident: “I always see these kinds of things on TV, but today it's happening right here,” said a resident, Sbusiso Khumalo.
The chief operation officer of the mine declined to comment.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of uPhongolo municipality, Herbert Ngcamphalala, issued a stern warning to people who continued to mine illegally, saying that the deaths of the five illegal miners must be seen as a grave lesson.
He said the municipality would deal harshly with people who defied the law.
Sunday Independent