All Lily Mine workers rescued, three surface workers missing
All of the 87 miners who were working underground at the Lily Mine near Barberton in Mpumalanga when a collapse occurred near the entrance to the mine on Friday morning have been safely brought to the surface.
However, according to a statement issued by Vantage Goldfields, the owners of the mine, a search was still on for three employees who had not been accounted for.
According to the statement the three had been at the surface when the collapse occured.
Paramedics initially reported that they had been called to rescue as many as 100 workers trapped in the mine.
Mine operations director Mike Beck told journalist at the mine that the accident was a “freak accident”.
He said that the crown pillar had collapsed.
“It’s the area where some of our buildings stand at the top of the mine. It doesn’t affect the people working down in the mine other than it blocked the portal. We can’t get people out through the main entrance obviously, so all of our people have been coming out the escape way.”
He said the unaccounted people could have been working in the buildings.
He said that the trapped miners would have had to walk at least a kilometres along the escape routes to get out.
The search for the missing people was continuing.
“The thoughts and prayers of everyone at Lily and Vantage Goldfields are with the three missing workers, their families and the rescue teams. Our focus as management right now is on finding our colleagues,” Mike McChesney, the chief executive of Vantage Goldfields, was quoted in the statement as saying.
“The efforts of the rescue teams and our employees during these very difficult times is deeply valued and appreciated.”
Most of the miners belonged to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) .
Earlier, AMCU official Manzini Zungu said: “At this point it’s unclear what caused the disaster, but further information about the horrific incident will be made available during the course of the day. We are on our way to the mine as we speak.”
The mine reportedly caved in at around 8.40am on Friday. According to Zungu no fatalities were reported.
The Barberton Times newspaper reported that between 60 to 70 miners had been taken to the Barberton Hospital for treatment and observation.
The mine is located off the R38 between Barberton and Kaapmuiden.
According to the company’s website, the mine was started initially as an open pit mine in 2000, but had since become a shallow underground shaft mine. - ANA