UPDATE: Search and rescue abandoned – three illegal miners assumed dead
While five men were thought to be trapped, search and rescue could confirm only three
THREE men who became entrapped when the disused Klipwal gold mine in Pongola collapsed on them on Friday are assumed to be dead and search and rescue operations were abandoned on Saturday.
The incident was thought to have occurred in the early hours of Friday morning.
The Klipwal mine has been disused for a number of years, but opportunists have used it as an illegal mining site in recent years.
The illegal miners had reportedly started mining the pillars of the mine shaft in recent times, leading to the deterioration of the entire structure which ultimately collapsed on them. Richards Bay search and rescue crews arrived on the scene on Friday afternoon and worked late into the night.
While they were able to converse with one of the trapped men, it was impossible to reach him.
Although an accomplice of the miners, who had left the mine to buy cool drinks before the collapse, claimed that five men were trapped, search and rescue members were able to confirm only three miners after the one they conversed with said he could feel two of his friends next to him.
Search and rescue members from Port Shepstone, Pietermaritzburg and Richards Bay returned to the scene on Saturday morning, but found no sign of life and abandoned the search on Saturday afternoon.
Large boulders and a huge amount of rubble had collapsed on the men, with one search and rescue member estimating 40 tonnes to have collapsed on the illegal miners.
As the mine shaft had been closed up when mining was discontinued some years ago, there was no direct access for rescue teams to reach the men, making a rescue impossible.
‘A rescue operation was conducted by SAPS Search and Rescue crews from all over the province, assisted by paramedics, the mine manager and personnel of Klipwal mine,’ said SAPS KZN spokesperson Major Thulani Zwane.
‘The members found no sign of life and the structure deteriorated and it was completely unsafe to try to recover the bodies. The operation was therefore called off’.’
