Two more bodies of trapped miners have been recovered in the AngloGold Ashanti’s Tau Tona mine near Carletonville, the company said on Thursday afternoon.
Rescuers are now searching for two remaining miners, following the recovery of the first body on Wednesday afternoon.
Company spokesperson Steve Lenahan could not speculate on how long it will take rescuers to recover the remaining bodies.
The five miners had been trapped underground since a rockfall caused by two tremors of 1,9 and 2,3 magnitude on the Richter scale at about 2pm on Monday.
All affected families have been notified.
”Arrangements have been made to get all families of missing miners to the mine,” Lenahan said.
Names would only be released to the public once family members had given consent.
”The company again expresses its sympathy to all affected families.”
The two miners rescued shortly after the incident on Monday remain in hospital.
”The one who suffered a back injury remains in a stable condition in hospital, while the other is being treated for minor injuries.”
The company said the damage took place in a production panel on 97 level, 2 700m below surface.
Reacting to Monday’s rockburst, Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica said the number of miners killed underground in South Africa is ”totally unacceptable”.
The National Union of Mineworkers said Tau Tona had an ”unrelenting scenario of fatalities”.
”So far, according to our records, 11 fatalities have occurred in 2006 excluding the current ‘accident’, and two weeks ago one accident was also reported,” said the union’s Mike Fafuli in a statement on Tuesday.
He said the union wanted answers from AngloGold Ashanti after it transpired that the miners were supposed have been out of the shaft 30 minutes before the incident.
”Their shift was supposed to have ended at 2pm, but they were still down there at the time of the rockfall by 2.30pm,” Fafuli said.
Lenahan could not comment on the delay saying the mine had to investigate the incident first. — Sapa