Mine collapse: Residents attempt own rescue
Jerusalema residents were stopped from staging their own rescue attempt as efforts continue to find alternative access.
While the rescue effort of at least two suspected illegal miners trapped in a Rand Leases mineshaft remains suspended, frustrated residents from Jerusalema informal settlement have attempted their own rescue operation.
Rescue attempts were suspended earlier today, February 10, for safety reasons as the shaft remains highly unstable.
Residents ran out of patience after search and rescue personnel withdrew from the site and attempted to gain entry to the shaft.
• Read the initial article here: Two trapped in collapsed mine shaft in Roodepoort
Yesterday, at the Roodepoort Record’s visit to the shaft, moaning could be heard coming from the bottom of the shaft. By this morning, however, the moaning from the bottom of the shaft had ceased.
According to the City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (CoJEMS) spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi, police were notified of the community’s attempts at accessing the shaft.
Acting station commander at Florida Police Station, Colonel Ivy Mabusa says police have since secured the site and chased off the residents.
The Record has confidentially learned that all efforts to locate the alleged alternative access point that miners use to get to the site have failed.
According to the source who wishes not to be named, the scores of illegal miners interviewed all declined to disclose the site of the main hole for fear of the well-armed and organised Basotho overlords who jealously guard the illegal mines.
“They’re more afraid of the Basotho than they are of the police,” the source says.
