About 1 250 miners remained trapped more than 2,2km underground in Harmony Gold’s Elandsrand mine near Carletonville on Thursday after an all-night rescue mission.
Up to 200 women were among those stuck in a cramped space in the mine where temperatures could reach 40 degrees Celsius.
Stranded when the electricity cable of the mine’s main lift was severed in an accident, the miners were being brought up in small lift slowly to avoid risks, mining officials said.
‘I’m glad I’m safe’
Granny Makad (35), an inspector, told the Mail & Guardian Online on Thursday morning: ”It was terrible. There was not enough air and they tried putting in more and ventilating the areas where we were trapped. We were all crying, everyone was so negative and they thought we would die down there.
”There was no phone to call out and that’s what scared us more. It was traumatic and I’m glad I’m safe. My body is tired and I’m thirsty. They gave us water and bread when they rescued us, but my body is still thirsty. I’m glad no one was injured. I’m happy we are safe and OK.”
Sophy Selogilwe (26), an engineer who was also trapped, said: ”It was very scary and it was my first experience in a situation like this. The miners were trapped from levels 76 to 150. There was not enough water and food and even air. We were given some this morning. I was rescued around six this morning. I’m glad we are all okay. It is better that we are all alive and that no one was killed or injured that I know of.”
Jeanneth Makamu, exhausted and wearing dusty green overalls, said she had spent much of the time underground thinking about her family. Her husband, who also works at the mine, escaped the accident.
”I was worried for my two children and my husband Steven. I met him as I came in the morning shift and he was walking out [after a nightshift],” said Makamu.
As she and others emerged from 2,2km underground they were handed food packages before heading to their hostel accommodation. At least one worker had to be treated by paramedics for dehydration.
Mine owner Harmony Gold said the rescue operation was going smoothly and those underground were being pumped clean air and water. By around noon, 1 950 mineworkers of the 3 200 originally stranded had been rescued.
”It’s a very serious incident, but it’s under control,” Harmony chief executive officer Graham Briggs told Reuters.
The mine’s general manager, Stan Bierschenk, said the morale of workers still stuck below ground was ”fairly brittle”.
Wake-up call
Both the company and the mining union said better safety standards were needed at the pit south-west of Johannesburg. Company chairperson Patrice Motsepe described the accident as a ”wake-up call to all of us”.
Production at the mine was halted and would remain shut until an investigation had been completed and damage repaired, Briggs said. Harmony is the world’s fifth biggest gold producer.
The miners were caught after an air pipe broke off and hurtled down the shaft, damaging steelwork and severing an electrical cable carrying power to the main lift, Briggs said.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) blamed poor safety standards and Harmony’s practice of mining 24 hours a day.
”We suspect negligence. Because of continuous operations there is no time to make adequate checks,” NUM president Senzeni Zokwana told reporters.
Motsepe said additional measures were needed to protect workers. ”Our safety records both as a company and as a country leave much to be desired,” he told reporters.
South African gold mines are the deepest in the world and unions have often criticised companies for not doing enough to ensure workers’ safety.
Minister of Minerals and Energy Affairs Buyelwa Sonjica, who this week visited a mine operated by AngloGold Ashanti where four workers were killed in a rock fall, expressed serious concerns about ”elements of negligence” in mining.
”I would not call it a crisis because mining is risky by nature. But I still think there is room for improvement,” Sonjica told reporters at the Elandsrand mine on Thursday.
Gold mine operations have come under scrutiny over the past few months after a series of accidents. Companies are mining ever deeper to reach remaining seams and reap the benefits of a sharply higher bullion price.
”I feel happy to be on the surface. It was hot, dusty and I am quite hungry now,” said 27-year-old Zandile Sindiwe. – Reuters