Lily trio’s relatives are giving up hope

The Lily Mine in Barberton, where three miners were trapped underground after a container collapsed in February. File picture: Itumeleng English

The Lily Mine in Barberton, where three miners were trapped underground after a container collapsed in February. File picture: Itumeleng English

Published Oct 4, 2016

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Pretoria - The families of three mineworkers trapped underground at a Barberton mine since February have given up hope of the retrieval of their remains.

This comes after another attempt to retrieve their mortal remains by Mine Rescue Services revealed the 600m rescue shaft and the original ventilation shaft had deteriorated, making it unsafe to enter.

Tomorrow will mark seven months since Solomon Nyerende, Pretty Nkambule and Yvonne Mnisi plunged into a 60m sinkhole with the lamp-room container in which they were working at Vantage Goldfields’ Lily Mine.

“We have drawn a blank. We have no clue what we will do now. We have been left helpless since the mine collapsed and have reconciled with the fact that our children are dead. Now we have to accept that we may never be able to bury them,” said Kennedy Nyerende, Solomon’s father.

The grieving father said it appeared as though there was no end in sight to their wait as his son had been reduced to an after-thought.

“It’s one thing if we were sure that operations were under way to get their bodies back, but they have cancelled again. We don’t think we will be getting them back,” Nyerende said.

Mine Rescue Services said the rescue shaft had been compromised and left the team without a second outlet, and thus the planned inspection could not proceed last Thursday. Three previous attempts to retrieve the container were aborted soon after the tragedy.

“Furthermore, underground access through the ventilation shaft would be extremely unwise and endanger the lives of the investigation team,” said business rescue practitioner Rob Devereux.

The team includes expert rock engineers, Department of Mineral Resources and union representatives, senior mine management and Mine Rescue Services personnel.

Devereux said a collective decision between mine management, the union and Mine Rescue Services was made to abort the attempts to inspect the localised geological conditions underground.

“The original plan to develop a new decline remains in place. This is 400m from the disturbed area and represents the best option to access the underground workings safely. Plans to implement this remain on track,” Devereux said.

Nkambule’s cousin, Jabulani Mazibuko, said there was very little that could be done at the moment. “I think they should have worked harder to try to retrieve the container in February. There could have been a difference and maybe we could have gotten our loved ones back,” he said.

Mazibuko said they would only believe in the operation when the container had been retrieved. “It's tiring to always hear that they are going to start retrieving the container, then they come back and say they can’t because of one or another reason.

“We are going to wait for the container to be brought to the surface before believing in anything. For now, we don’t think our family members will be retrieved,” Mazibuko said.

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