Mine Owner and Foreman Die in Primrose Mine, South Africa
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Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) personnel and private services paramedics work side by side to try and save the men trapped in a Primrose mine, on Thursday.
Emergency services worked tirelessly and late into the night on Thursday to recover the bodies of two men who were trapped in a Primrose mine shaft.
The bodies of the miners were recovered by the Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) rescue crew, in collaboration with other private emergency services, the SAPS K-9 Unit, mine rescue services and USAR-SA.
“DEMS rescue crews responded to the address immediately after receiving the call at about 3.15pm.
“On arrival at the new mining plant near the intersection of Main Reef and Stanley roads, opposite the Makause informal settlement, the rescue crew was informed that two men had gone down the shaft and had not returned as planned,” said William Ntladi, district manager media liaison for DEMS.
It is believed the men, the owner of the mine, aged 52, and the foreman, aged 43, had descended into the mine to check on water levels.
ER24 paramedics and other services also responded to the scene and arrived to find one of the men had run out of oxygen by that time.
“Two rescue crew members immediately descended the inclining shaft with full personal protective gear on,” said Ntladi.
“The first lifeless patient the rescuers found and positively identified was at the depth of about 100 meters, while the second patient was 11 meters further down.”
The rescue teams, medics from various services, mining officials and police officials worked as a collective to recover the bodies throughout the cold night.
“Both bodies were successfully recovered and all other rescue technicians on standby, ready to respond, had to stand-down because the mission was accomplished,” said Ntaldi.
The scene was completed at 12.15am (on Friday morning) when the last body was recovered from the shaft and then handed over to the police for further investigation.
Sgt Styles Maome, communications officer for the Primrose SAPS, said that the Primrose police have opened an inquest docket for investigation.
Source: (May 22, 2017) Germiston City News
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