Battlefields Mine disaster, survivors, rescuers tell the tale

HE was saved from the already gapped jaws of death by his love for soccer on a wet night where disaster struck at Cricket Mine and claimed the lives of 24 miners at Battlefields near Kadoma.

Call it fate that dictates that who he is born to be hanged shall never be drowned, Simba Moyo just like the eight others who were rescued were spared and will have to wait to die another day, maybe not by drowning. Moyo said he was on duty but he loved soccer so much that he went and watched the match between Manchester United and Paris Saint Germaine (PSG) and when he came back he was already late and it was raining heavily that he decided not to go back into the mine.

“That night there was a match between Manchester United and PSG and I went to watch the game. On my return it started raining heavily and I delayed my return into the mine. That is how I survived,” he said.

He said he was thankful to God that he was spared the agony that the survivors experienced and probably death that met the 24 others.

“I wouldn’t say I am clever but it just happened. To me it was solely God’s case and I am happy but sad that some of my friends perished,” he added.

He said hope of anyone making it alive was fading by each passing day and no soul was expected to come out of the Cricket Mine alive as it emerged that water had flooded the mine. The mine had flooded on Tuesday night and it was fast approaching Saturday with no one ever thinking that a living soul could be perched precariously on a rock while in water that had reached neck level.

A miracle however, happened when eight people were rescued, quickly turning them into heroes and everyone wanted to know just how they made it without food for all those days. There were mixed feelings of joy for those whose relatives came out alive, as well as anguish that turned the atmosphere sombre for those who came out as bodies.

Most of the survivors told horrendous stories of how they were perched on a small rock for more than 72 hours while some were too shaken to be reminded of the four-day torturing experience under the mine pits where 24 bodies were later to be retrieved.

But there was a section of people which not everyone took note of. These were the people who were equally as troubled as those who were trapped under the mine. They also lost sleep over the welfare of their colleagues who were down in the mine and were determined to retrieve the bodies of their colleagues for a decent burial. Shepherd Sabe was part of the rescuing team and took time to share his experience of how it all happened.

“When the mines flooded, I had already retired to bed waiting for our turn to get into the mine the following day. We were however, awakened by people who were at the mine saying water was flowing into the pits. It was a sorry sight as we witnessed water flowing into the pits but surely there was nothing we could do to stop the water,” said Sabe.

From that time, he said they never rested but in the same vein, there was no hope of getting anyone alive from the mine.

“Water was full to capacity so we never expected that we would rescue people from the mine. So we were actually pumping water with the hope of retrieving bodies,” he explained.

During Sabe’s turn to go underground to re-position the water pump, voices of people talking and shouting for help scared him that he bolted out of the pit, much to the shock of those who were outside.

“When I heard them screaming for help, I could not believe it, in fact I was scared and I thought there were ghosts or something. When I told my colleagues they also couldn’t believe it because we had written off everyone. As Africans we quickly arranged a church ceremony and a traditional bira that same night to appease exorcise whatever spirits we thought had engulfed the mine and was now haunting the rescuers.

“I was scared to go back inside. I asked my colleague to go and check for himself. And when he returned, I gathered courage and went inside with him and indeed, there were people talking. I asked for names and they answered and this gave us renewed hope and we increased the pace, leading to their rescue in the morning of the fourth day,” said Sabe.

Another rescuer, Matthias Gurupe, said he dismissed Sabe as drunk and told him to go and take a rest a bit.

“He came out and told us there were people talking but we told him he should go and rest. We did not expected anyone to be alive after four days. But we were shocked as we later rescued eight people. Personally I could not believe it, but it happened,” said Gurupe.

One of the first people to be rescued, Thinkmore Mandimutse, explained how they were perched on rock, water reaching neck level for the days they spent under the mine.

“We had just finished our mining activities and were preparing to go out when suddenly we were pushed back by floods. Water was flowing into the pits powerfully. I thought I was finished as we were trapped. We found a rock that we were perched on. We had to balance there on the rock until we were rescued. It was collision with death and that we survived is just but a miracle,” said Mandimutse.

He said it was sad that some miners died as the water caught everyone unsuspecting.

“Initially we were more than ten but some gave up and drowned, we would just push the body aside and continue holding on precariously. We were glad when we saw water levels slowly getting low,” he said.

Mandimutse said he had no plans of going back under the mine saying instead he would go to his home area in Mt Darwin to embark on farming activities. His father, Takaruza Mandimutse had already written his son off as well and had all set for his funeral.

“We were shocked when we heard there were people who were talking in the mine. We had already come geared to collect his body for burial. Our local legislator had also offered to assist us with anything for his burial, but God has his way of doing things and we were shocked when we heard that Darwin (Thinkmore’s popular name) was alive and the first to be rescued,” he said.