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Gloria Mine’s recovery operation on the move

With an estimate of about 15 bodies still unaccounted for, the proto teams at Gloria Mine are making significant progress.

February 21, 2019

Sjani Campher 2 minutes read

The recovery of the remaining trapped bodies within the shaft was hampered, for the how-many’th time, by a breakdown of one of their ventilation fans.

Proto teams who were slowly progressing into the shaft had come across seven bodies when they had to be pulled from the operation due to the breakdown.
The Mine had called upon technicians from Johannesburg to come and repair the extractor fan and now the ball is on the roll again.

Also read: Number of trapped people in mineshaft increases

Mr Mike Elliot, the communication liaison at the mine, has informed www.mobserver.co.za that proto teams have been back at work since 04:00.
A distance of roughly 1.5km underground needs to be covered for the rescuers to reach the estimated location of where the trapped bodies are.

The teams experienced hiccups along the way, when one of the walls in the shaft, that reflect on the blueprints, was damaged by the blast and caused a leakage of ventilation. Proto teams have been doing repairs to the walls as they descend, by erecting “brattices” (a temporary wall made of tarpauline) which is fixed to the wall over any holes caused by the blast.

These tarps are said to keep the fresh air from leaking out of the rescue routes.

Also read: Gloria Mine update: 7 more bodies discovered when operations were put on hold

The repairs, thus far, are out of the way and rescue teams are moving to the estimated location at a fast pace.

Mr Elliot went on to explain that people need to understand that this is a time consuming process. “These guys that make up the proto teams, are the best guys in the world and they also have the best equipment in the world.” However, despite having state of the art equipment at their disposal, ventilation within the shaft is of utmost importance for the recovery, as the oxygen supply provided for each rescuer is to be reserved for emergency exits.

Barring any unexpected obstacles, the recovery of the bodies should go smoothly from here on.