900 miners trapped underground

MORE than 900 miners remained trapped underground yesterday at the Sibanye-Stillwater Beatrix gold mine in the Free State as rescue operations continued.

Between 940 and 950 miners were trapped, but believed safe, in the Beatrix mine’s Shaft 2 and Shaft 3 on Wednesday night when their elevator shut down during a power outage in a thunderstorm.

National Union of Mineworkers spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu said the miners were trapped after “the cage taking the workers to the surface stopped working because of a power failure”.

Mammburu said it was not known exactly how many workers were trapped, despite earlier reports of 950 being trapped and 65 having been rescued.

“We were just informed by our members on the ground. They are saying that the number is more than that,” he said.

“Our information is they are using a generator to try and power those shafts, but they are rescuing them one at a time.”

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) said 40 workers at Shaft 2 had been rescued and brought back to the surface, while the miners at Shaft 3 remained underground.

The union said the incident was a result of the sheer number of workers involved and called on management to step up rescue efforts.

“It is common cause that lives might already be threatened due to dehydration and blood sugar issues .

“It is also quite common for adults to be on chronic medication, and it is highly probable that there are some workers who are trapped without access to their medicine.

“This incident also raises serious concern regarding the lack of emergency contingency plans at the mine for alternative and back-up power generation. Amcu received reports that the mine is now attempting to borrow a generator from Harmony.”

South Africa employs more than 100 000 miners, but the industry is in decline, with shafts being sunk to ever greater depths – sometimes as deep as 4 km – and surging costs forcing significant layoffs and closures.