Officials in South Africa have confirmed the death of four mine workers who were trapped following an earthquake.
10 of the initial 13 workers who were trapped were rescued but officials of the mining company, Sibanye-Stillwater mine have said that four of those rescued died from their injuries.
The mining company has now suspended operations as officials work to rescue miners still stuck underground following the collapse.
The spokesman for the mine, James Wellsted was quoted by News24 as saying that “We’ve got the rescue teams underground and there’s a lot of loose rock, so you can imagine the difficulties.”
He said contact has been made with only one of the missing three still yet to be rescued.
The President of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) in South Africa, Joseph Mathunjwa has blamed the mining company for the incident, saying that workers were sent down the mine after an earlier seismic event.
“Indeed, this is a sad day. These mines continue killing workers,” said Mathunjwa.
In February this year, over one thousand miners were trapped after a storm knocked out power lines supplying electricity to Sibanye-Stillwater’s Beatrix gold mine, south-west of Johannesburg.
Source: Africafeeds.com
