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March 28: On This Day in World History … briefly
A mine lift cage at the Vaal Reefs gold mine fell 1.9 kilometres (1.2 miles) killing 23.
1980: Mine lift cage plunges a mile
A mine life cage at Vaal Reefs gold mine plunged more than a mile, killing all 23 on board – thought to be the longest lift fall ever.
Some South African mines reach down to 11 500ft (3 700m) below the surface. Supplying air to the huge network of deep tunnels is a major engineering problem – the tunnels seep water that has to be constantly pumped out.
Stuffy heat, noisy drills, dynamite and danger of rockfalls add up to an industrial hell, worked by many thousands of miners.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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