THREE nights of pumping water out of the 240-metre-deep shaft at Bucks Mine in Colleen Bawn where seven miners have been trapped underground since Saturday were met with dead silence when the first body was finally hoisted out of the shaft.
After waiting for days with no idea what could have been
happening with their loved ones underground, anxious relatives could finally
see the culmination of their wait.
While some watched helplessly, others couldn’t hold back
tears. They stood, watched and wept silently as the rescue team battled with a
blue drum containing the body of one of the trapped miners at around 9.30AM.
In that moment, all hope started to peel off.
Another body emerged at around 12 noon and was again met
with dead silence, blank stares and tears.
Dejected relatives watch as more bodies are brought to the
surface
By 1.50PM, another body was being hoisted to the surface,
and at this point, it was clear there were no survivors from the accident as
some of the retrieved bodies had been badly injured with skin peeling off due
to prolonged exposure to water.
It must’ve been hard to be a police officer as co-workers
struggled to identify some of the miners whose faces had been defaced.
The blankets covering the bodies were opened and closed
several times before positive identifications could be made so that the correct
relatives could be asked to identify the bodies.
The rescue workers who have been on the mission 24/7 since
they were called in to assist, some of whom have been living underground since
Saturday continued to hoist more miners out with a body count of five by 5PM.
The inevitable would soon follow — packing up the deceased
belongings and holding family caucuses on what the next move would be.
Members from various miners’ associations gathered to
commiserate with the bereaved families and offer assistance to the rescue team
in retrieving the trapped miners’ bodies.
By 6PM, six bodies had been retrieved with the seventh one
reportedly visible to the rescue team but partly crushed by the plunged skip.
Speaking at the scene of the accident yesterday, Mines and
Mining Development Deputy Minister Polite Kambamura urged miners to adhere to
safety standards in order to avoid similar accidents in future.
“It’s sad that we lost seven miners of this operation but
we want to thank everyone who is here and has been making frantic efforts to
rescue those who drowned underground. We’ve so far managed to retrieve five
bodies; the sixth body is still underground but it will be out in the next
hour. The seventh body is still trapped underground under a cocopone which
we’re trying to move so that we can have space to get the body out. We’re
confident that we’ll be able to retrieve all the seven bodies,” said Deputy
Minister Kambamura.
Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Polite
Kambamura (right) gets briefed on the rescue operation by national chief mining
engineer Mr Michael Munodawafa yesterday
H extended his condolences to the families and co-workers
of the deceased.
“We’re so saddened as Government and want to urge the
communities around to adhere to all safety standards to make sure that such
accidents don’t happen in future. Currently, the department of the chief
Government mining engineer is going around doing safety awareness campaigns
together with the Ministry of Environment to make sure that miners adhere to
safety standards and a safe working environment,” said Deputy Minister
Kambamura.
Vubachikwe Mine rescue team captain Mr Cleopas Karima said
the rescue mission had been a difficult one.
“We started pumping water on Sunday around 10PM because the
mine had problems with broken pipes so we started by equipping the pipes and
the pump. We continued pumping until Monday around 10PM, that’s when we started
to see the first body floating on top of water.
“We continued pumping until today (yesterday) around 5AM,
that’s when we saw six bodies,” said Mr Karima.
He said the team started cleaning the shaft and installing
some working platforms to enable them to retrieve the bodies.
“We started retrieving the bodies around 9AM today
(yesterday) but still our challenge is that there’s still water underground.
The water from the expected platform is about three meters
which makes it difficult for us. We’ve retrieved five bodies, the sixth one is
on its way up now. The seventh body is still a challenge but there are positive
signs that we’ll retrieve it soon. If we fail, we’re going to pump water again
so that we can retrieve it,” said Mr Karima.
Zimbabwe Miners Federation president Ms Henrietta Rushwaya
speak to some of the rescuers
He said the top part of the seventh body was still trapped
underwater.
“We’re fighting to retrieve it. This has been a difficult
activity considering the state of the mine. It’s been hard but we’ve managed to
sail through. We hope we’re going to retrieve the seventh body soon. We’ve had
help from some of the guys from here. It’s a hard situation especially
considering that these bodies have been in water since Saturday up to now. The
bad smells and you can imagine the water with blood and everything,” said Mr
Karima.
Zimbabwe Miners Federation Matabeleland South chapter
chairman Mr Philemon Mukwili said the bereaved families would be assisted with
burial logistics.
“We saw this accident as a challenge to us because we now
understand that most small-scale miners lack knowledge of health and safety
which is very important in our mining operations. We’ll be training our miners
so that they understand the importance of safety in the mines. Most miners were
not taking issues of health and safety seriously such that when we called for
training, most miners were not coming. However, these trainings will be useful
in reducing accidents in our mines,” said Mr Mukwili. Chronicle
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