TWO illegal gold miners died while five others are feared dead after they were trapped underground when a shaft collapsed.
The accident occurred in the early hours of yesterday at
Interfah Mine also known as Success Mine in Matobo District, Matabeleland South
Province.
Illegal miners invaded the area after news broke that rich
gold deposits had been discovered.
When The Chronicle arrived at the scene yesterday, a sombre
atmosphere engulfed the area with scores of gold miners from other surrounding
mines gathered at Interfah Mine as they watched an excavator digging for the
bodies.
By last night, two bodies had been retrieved from the shaft
as rescue teams continued with their frantic efforts to reach and rescue those
still trapped in the pit.
Contrary to the rowdy and rivalry behaviour synonymous with
gold panners, the exhumation of the two bodies presented a spirit of
brotherhood as they volunteered to carry the bodies of their departed
colleagues.
“These are
our brothers, we might not know them, but by
virtue of them being gold panners it means they are our brothers,” said one
panner.
The mine is reportedly owned by a syndicate of three
men.
A director of the mine Mr Philani Ncube said the trapped
gold miners illegally entered the mine. The legal owners had not started
operations as they were still in the registration stage.
“This is our mine and we had not commenced operations as we
are in the process of registering. We got reports that there were people coming
to illegally mine here after discovering gold deposits using detectors,” he
said.
“We then engaged the police from Matopo and they deployed
the riot police from their Support Unit who came and dispersed them.”
“The gold panners who were trapped in the mine shaft came
at night to illegally mine and unfortunately the pit collapsed on them.”
At the time of going to press, police were still conducting
investigations. Police officers who attended the scene took the two bodies to a
mortuary in Bulawayo.
While the number of the miners suspected to have been
working inside the pit could not be confirmed, reports say five could be still
trapped inside the pit.
In October, a man died and four others survived when a mine
shaft collapsed at an illegal mine in New Parklands suburb in Bulawayo. Several
shafts and tunnels at other mines have collapsed, trapping miners with
authorities warning people against illegal mining activities during the rainy
season
The district development co-ordinator for Matobo, who is
also the head of the district civil protection unit, Mr Obey Chaputsira, said
they had since been informed by the police about the tragedy.
Mr Chaputsira said miners should exercise caution
considering that the country is in the rainy season when more mining shafts
collapse.
“Due to the rains that we are receiving, the land becomes
unstable hence we encourage those in the mining sector to follow precautionary
measures as directed by the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. There can
be gold rushes and so forth, but miners have to adhere to safety measures. We
can’t continue losing people due to unsafe mining procedures.”
Mr Chapuritsa extended his condolences to the families of
the deceased miners.
In May, seven miners at Bucks Mine in Colleen Bawn plunged
to their death after hoisting ropes to a skip bringing them up a 240-metre-deep
shaft snapped 15 metres from the surface.
The skip they were in dragged the miners to the bottom of
the shaft with first responders to the scene reportedly seeing splatters of
blood on the walls of the shaft going down. Rescue workers spent over 72 hours
trying to pump out water from the underground mine in order to retrieve the
bodies of the miners who were trapped underwater.
Some of the retrieved bodies had been badly injured with
skin peeling off due to prolonged exposure to water. Chronicle
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