Two mine workers, aged 43 and 49, died and a third was injured following an accident at an Xstrata coal mine near Witbank, Xstrata Coal said on Monday.
Spokesperson Songezo Zibi said Gabriel Manyeli (43), a continuous miner operator, and Solwako Magagula (49), a cable handler, died on Saturday after inhaling noxious gas.
The mine was evacuated and the two men were taken above ground but could not be resuscitated. A third miner was hospitalised and was reportedly out of danger.
Xstrata stopped all underground operations and sealed the mine until further investigations by Xstrata Coal and the Department of Minerals and Energy’s inspector of mines, Zibi said.
Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans said on Monday the men died after they drilled into an old section of the mine containing carbon dioxide gas.
Carbon dioxide forms naturally in the old sections of coal mines, Kleynhans said.
Carbon dioxide is heavier than air and displaces air upwards when released in a mine.
”The open channel between the old and new sections meant that all the oxygen was displaced out of the space where the mineworkers were drilling,” Kleynhans said.
Gas-related accidents were not common in South African mines.
This was the 143rd and 144th fatality in South African mines this year, Kleynhans said. — Sapa