Pretoria - The container lamp-room in which three mine workers are believed to be trapped at the Vantage Goldfields Lily Mine has emergency packs.
It also has ights and other equipment which they can use.
But operations director at the mine Mike Begg said it was not yet clear how long it would take rescue workers to find the container which was swallowed up when the entrance to the Barberton, Mpumalanga, mine caved-in early on Friday.
Read: Three miners still trapped
Begg said that three rescue teams were working around the clock to locate the workers.
“The rescue teams are still removing material and rubble so that we can get to see the container,” said Begg.
An emotional Begg has constantly been giving updates on the progress of the search to family members of the missing three, who had camped outside the mine's entrance.
“It can take a long time to get to the container. If we are lucky we'll find them in hour or two, if not, a day or two.”
He vowed that they would not stop the search until the mineworkers were found in the 80 metre deep hole that had been excavated.
Pics: Miners trapped underground
Begg described the collapse as a “freak accident”, but refused to speculate what could have caused it.
“The cause of the collapse will be determined when the investigation is concluded. Until then I really can't say what the cause was,” he said.
Pretoria News