11 feared dead at Redwing Mine

◆ the Officer Commanding Police in Manicaland Province on the rescue efforts. Preliminary indications are that 11 mine workers were trapped underground at Redwing Mine in Penhalonga, and efforts to rescue them are underway. More details will be availed in due course,” he said.

Mr Talent Chibutu who escaped the incident unhurt chronicled his ordeal to our news crew.

“I was the first to enter the mineshaft at around 3am, and while I was underground I could hear the ground cracking and small stones falling off. The ground was unstable, and we tried, but failed to carry out our gold ore. We were four, but there were up to 15 others who were operating in another section. We failed to reach them out and warm them of the imminent danger.

“As we rushed out, we met other miners and we stampeded upon each other to get to safety. I was at the back with a torch, lighting the way for others as they had lost theirs. Before getting out, there was a sudden pressure wave that tossed and knocked us against the shaft walls. We dumped the gold ore there.

“Those who were trapped are our colleagues. They are people we know and interacted with. They were about 15. They slept underground watching over their gold ore hoping to get it out for processing in the morning. It is painful that our colleagues are still trapped, and not much has been done to rescue them. I may be lucky to escape, but I feel sad for our colleagues.

“What I don’t know is whether they will come out alive or not. We are appealing to the mine and Government to assist these people,” he said.

Mr Elias Guhu, another miner said in his two-year experience he had not witnessed such a nasty incident.

“I have been mining here for the past two years, and I have never witnessed something like this. I was underground by 4am to collect my 41 bags of gold ore for processing at the mine.

“All hell broke loose as we were about to get out, and we abandoned everything. There was a high pressure wave that hit us. Pieces of rocks were falling off as a result of the tremors, something that we never witnessed before,” he said.

Mr Jeffery Gwature, who was sleeping outside the mineshaft, said there was a sudden earth movement around 6am.

“When the earth movement started, I rushed to the mine to investigate what was happening and realised that it had collapsed. There were cracks all over. The ground had sagged. There were cries that some people were underground.

“I drew some courage and went down the shaft where I found two people injured, one of them with serious head injuries. I tied them one by one with ropes to get them out. They were trying to get out of the mineshaft without ropes, and they were tossed by pressure waves, crushing their heads against the walls. They were rushed to the hospital,” he said.

Mrs Talent Mhuka said her husband and his two brothers (names withheld) were among those trapped underground.

A timberman who went down after the collapse, said it was possible to carry out a successful rescue mission, though there were still some earth movements that makes immediate rescue operation impossible.

He said he reached the point which had collapsed. “I was about to take measurements so that we could make some frames, but was advised to come out. There is a block which had no timbering that collapsed as a result of the landslides. The timbering was inferior and gave in. There are at least four places that were affected by the landslides, and these are areas that need to be cleared first,” he said.