(Foto: Northern Cape Provincial Government)
The remains of two miners, who had been trapped underground at the Ekapa mine in Kimberley for more than a month, were taken out of the mine on Sunday morning.
This brings the total number of miners extracted from the mine to three.
These two miners have been trapped since 17 February, after a mudslide, together with three other workers in a tunnel about 890 m underground in the mine.
Jahn BL Hohne, chief executive officer of Ekapa Resources (Pty) Ltd and Ekapa Minerals (Pty) Ltd, confirmed this news.
According to Hohne, the families involved have already been notified.
“A fourth miner’s body has been identified and authorities are hard at work to safely remove the remains as soon as conditions permit. Due to the conditions in the area, this process may take time and will be undertaken with due care and safety considerations.”
Hohne says the search is still on for the fifth miner.
(Foto: Google Maps)
The company expressed its deepest condolences to the workers’ families, colleagues and loved ones.
Maroela Media previously reported that the Ekapa mine was quietly liquidated in the Kimberley High Court on February 25, while searches were still underway underground for the bodies of the missing miners.
All operations at the diamond mine were halted in terms of the liquidation with immediate effect, meaning that hundreds of miners were suddenly out of a job.
An application for liquidation was submitted after the mine’s management apparently reviewed the mine’s financial statements and came to the conclusion that it was no longer financially sustainable to continue as a mining and processing business.
Lerato Mohatlane, organizer at the National Metalworkers Union of South Africa (Numsa), previously said that the mine would be put into liquidation, before miners received their salaries.
“All the workers have been told that they will not receive their salaries for February. Numsa will order the mine’s CEO and the general manager to pay the workers’ salaries,” Mohatlane said.
The union Uasa has since acknowledged that the mine is experiencing severe operational and financial pressures, but is “deeply saddened by the board’s decision to pursue liquidation while workers, families and the wider mining community continue to deal with the aftermath of the accident.”
The liquidation has come at a difficult time for certain families, as miners now face emotional trauma and the immediate threat of job loss.