Rockfall in South African gold mine: 4 workers dead

4 mineworkers were found dead after a rockfall occurred in a gold mine located in Orkney, South Africa.

The incident occurred on Friday, December 6, 2019. A rockfall triggered by a minor earthquake in the Tau Lekoa mine blocked the path of the unfortunate laborers that were trapped inside the mine. 

Rescue crews managed to save one miner who was severely injured. The other 4 remained trapped at about 1,300 meters below the ground. They could communicate with the rescue team until Friday afternoon. "As we speak four miners, who are NUM members, are still trapped underground. The prototeams were able to communicate with them in the afternoon, but late at night they were no longer responding and this for us is a cause for concern.” Livhuwani Mammburu, a spokesperson for the National Union for Mineworkers (NUM), stated on Saturday morning.

At least 100 rescuers, including volunteers and specially trained staff, participated in the operation which was extremely challenging due to the rockfall and the risk of additional rock mass failures.

Rescuers did not reach the spot on time and the mineworkers were found dead. The workers were between 32 and 47 years old. The president of NUM, Joseph Montisetse, later stated that their last words before they lost communication were: "We are suffocating, please, bring us some oxygen."

According to Mr. Montisetse, the miners should not have been at that location in the first place. It is speculated that they were working on excavating a mining pillar, the part that needs to be intact to support the roof overburden. Moreover, the mine did not have an additional escape route while the ventilation system was inadequate. These factors significantly reduced the amount of time that workers could survive in such conditions.

Village Main Reef, the company operating the mine, stated that until the investigation is over, no comments will be made about the conditions and the evacuation routes. “There were two seismic events and then a rockfall occurred. Investigations on the causal factors are ongoing and we will be able to comment only once those are complete. We won’t be commenting at all on the accusations by NUM,” James Duncan, a spokesman for the mine, stated.

Coincidently, 4 miners died at the same mine in July 2017 in a similar way. They were trapped at a shaft after a tremor caused another rockfall. 

According to officials, 81 mine workers died in South Africa's mines during the last year.