Forty one miners and three bodies retrieved so far in rescue operation at abandoned Sabie mine

Forty one miners and three bodies retrieved so far in rescue operation at abandoned Sabie mine

Rescue teams, led by the police, have been working since yesterday to rescue trapped illegal miners from an abandoned mine just south of Sabie.

Forty one miners and three bodies have been retrieved so far.

The miners were discovered on Tuesday by a patrolling K9 unit of a security company. They encountered four men who informed them that they had been trapped inside the mine and that there were another 150 men still trapped.They are all suspected to be illegal miners.

Various police units, emergency-medical services, officials from the health department as well as home affairs, security companies and plantation-owning companies are involved in the rescue operation.

According to Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Donald Mdhluli, members from the police’s Operation Vala Umgodi are also involved in the operation. Operation Vala Umgodi is a multidisciplinary team comprising different police units acting against illegal mining.

The rescue team managed to free eight of the trapped miners yesterday. They also recovered the remains of three miners.

This morning, more retrieval equipment had been brought to the site and another 33 of the miners were brought to the surface. After being examined by emergency-medical personnel, the miners were taken into custody by police.

National police commissioner General Fannie Masemola visited the rescue operation this morning.

“According to those that have resurfaced, there are still more than 100 illegal miners still underground,” he said. “All those who are retrieved will be arrested and face charges related to contravention of the immigration act and other illegal-mining related charges where applicable.

“The speed with which our search-and-rescue teams as well as our operational members responded to this crisis and the delicate manner in which they are managing the operation must be commended,” Masemola said. “The role of emergency-medical services under the Department of Health, the Department of Home Affairs, and other key stakeholders such as the private security companies working closely with our members must also be commended.”

He said that more resources are required to retrieve more of the miners, and they are looking at what resources are needed to save lives. He added that, notwithstanding the illegality of the mining, the loss of life is regretted.

“Illegal mining is not only hazardous and poses a challenge for neighbouring communities, but also carries a lot of danger for those partaking, as quite often illegal miners risk their lives to mine in unsafe and hazardous conditions,” he said.

Experienced members of mining rescue teams were also brought in to assist with the technical aspect of the rescue. The trapped miners are approximately 180 metres underground and the ropework to rescue them is labour-intensive.

This morning, the team started retrieving the weakest of the miners first.

According to Mdhluli, the miners were tricked into working in the mine.

“From the information that we have gathered so far, they were recruited for work, but when they got here, it was for illegal mining. They had no choice but to mine. They are trying to escape from this forced labour, hence the rescue operation.

“Once we have brought them all to the surface, our investigations will continue to separate the victims from the kingpins of this operation,” he said.

According to unconfirmed reports, the miners have been underground since January.

Mdhluli said not all the miners brought to the surface so far are undocumented foreigners. He said the Department of Home Affairs is on site to establish the rescued miners’ identities and it would only be possible to give a breakdown of nationalities once all the rescued miners have been identified.

The mine shaft, known as South Shaft, is also the location where the K9 unit of the police in Lydenburg were informed of a shooting incident at the end of last month. When the unit approached the shaft, they were fired upon by 11 men armed with rifles.

The policemen returned fire and the firefight lasted more than 30 minutes. A member of the K9 unit was wounded and taken to hospital, but discharged soon thereafter. Three of the suspected illegal miners were killed in the firefight. The other suspected miners fled into the forest. Police seized two AK47 rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition for these rifles.

The rescue operation will resume early tomorrow morning.