News / Regional
Four suspected illegal miners die in shaft
17 Mar 2013 at 06:54hrs | Views
FOUR people, believed to be illegal gold miners, died last week after they reportedly suffocated from gas fumes emitted by a generator they were using to pump out water from a disused gold mine in Gwanda.
The shaft is also reported to have caved in after Gwanda residents and the Fire Brigade failed to retrieve the three bodies, which were then excavated the following day.
Matabeleland South acting police spokesperson, Inspector Philisani Ndebele, confirmed the death of the alleged illegal miners.
"There are four people whom we believe to be illegal gold miners who died in disused mine shaft. We suspect they could have died from suffocating from fumes emitted by a generator we retrieved from the scene. They were using the generator to pump out water from the mine," he said.
Inspector Ndebele said according to their investigations, they discovered that the four entered the mine on the evening of 9 March.
"According to our findings, we are led to believe that these men entered the mine on 9 March in the evening. They had an accomplice who remained outside and would constantly check on them. On the evening in question he reported that when he checked on them, they were fine but complained about the rising water level," said inspector Ndebele.
He added that when the alleged accomplice checked on his colleagues later that night, he got no response leading to him reporting the matter to the police.
"Their bodies were finally retrieved on the 11th around 3pm. As the police, we urge people to desist from practising illegal mining. People should register and practise proper mining methods. Disused mines are death traps, people must adhere to the law and if interested in mining, they should do it according to the regulations," he said.
However, some Gwanda residents lambasted the fire brigade, citing inefficiency.
"The Fire Brigade was inefficient, they failed to rescue the miners, leading to an all-out effort by Gwanda residents who used obsolete equipment to dig them out of the shaft. We had anticipated that as a rescue department, they would have rescued these men on time but it was the other way round," said Mr Ncube.
Another resident said that the rescue mission was shackled by thick smoke coming out of the mine shaft; hence the mission was almost futile.
The shaft is also reported to have caved in after Gwanda residents and the Fire Brigade failed to retrieve the three bodies, which were then excavated the following day.
Matabeleland South acting police spokesperson, Inspector Philisani Ndebele, confirmed the death of the alleged illegal miners.
"There are four people whom we believe to be illegal gold miners who died in disused mine shaft. We suspect they could have died from suffocating from fumes emitted by a generator we retrieved from the scene. They were using the generator to pump out water from the mine," he said.
Inspector Ndebele said according to their investigations, they discovered that the four entered the mine on the evening of 9 March.
"According to our findings, we are led to believe that these men entered the mine on 9 March in the evening. They had an accomplice who remained outside and would constantly check on them. On the evening in question he reported that when he checked on them, they were fine but complained about the rising water level," said inspector Ndebele.
He added that when the alleged accomplice checked on his colleagues later that night, he got no response leading to him reporting the matter to the police.
"Their bodies were finally retrieved on the 11th around 3pm. As the police, we urge people to desist from practising illegal mining. People should register and practise proper mining methods. Disused mines are death traps, people must adhere to the law and if interested in mining, they should do it according to the regulations," he said.
However, some Gwanda residents lambasted the fire brigade, citing inefficiency.
"The Fire Brigade was inefficient, they failed to rescue the miners, leading to an all-out effort by Gwanda residents who used obsolete equipment to dig them out of the shaft. We had anticipated that as a rescue department, they would have rescued these men on time but it was the other way round," said Mr Ncube.
Another resident said that the rescue mission was shackled by thick smoke coming out of the mine shaft; hence the mission was almost futile.
Source - SM
