One dead, dozens feared trapped underground
An illegal miner, who hails from Lesotho, fell about 250m down an abandoned mineshaft, located next to the traffic light, corner of Main Reef and Wit Deep roads.
The man fell down the mine shaft on Tuesday, January 28, after he and other miners, who also hail from Lesotho, had spent days underground looking for gold.
They decided to resurface on Tuesday, exiting the shaft using a rope, but when they were about to reach the surface, something went wrong, and the man fell about 250 metres down, according to Ekurhuleni Emergency Services spokesman, Rogers Mamaile.
Mamaile says they were only informed of the incident on Wednesday, January 29.
“Our rescue team was sent to the scene, however, members could not carry out any rescue operation because the Department of Mineral Resources declared the shaft unsafe for personnel to conduct an underground rescue,” explains Mamaile.
Ekurhuleni Emergency Services (EMS) grabbed the opportunity and used it to educate the scores of miners who emerged from the hole the dangers of working in the abandoned shafts.
It is unclear if the man who fell down the shaft is still alive, but rescue crew suspect that he is seriously injured or even dead.
One of the miners told the Advertiser that the underground tunnel also collapsed and he managed to escape through a small hole.
He says there there is a possibility that other miners who are still underground are trapped.
Another miner revealed that there were still dozens of illegal miners underground scavenging gold.
According to David Shabalala from EMS, the shaft was sealed after an allegedly illegal miner fell to his death recently.
The miners apparently drilled the new hole through the concrete slab.
It is believed that these illegal miners collect gold dust, wash it and expose it to heat before selling the final product on the black market.
The incident came few weeks after a Lesotho man, disappeared into an about two meter deep pit, which he and his friend dug, while scavenging for scrap metals at an abandoned mineshaft, along Elsburg Road, Reiger Park.
People must be very desperate or very greedy, to even consider going down one of those shafts. It also poses a serious threat to members of the public, especially children, due to their investigative nature. Drastic steps should be taken to prohibit anyone from getting near those worked out mines, let alone opening shafts for the purpose of illegal mining.