Two panners died when the mine shaft they were working in near Colleen Bawn in Gwanda, Matabeleland South province, collapsed and trapped them inside on Saturday.
The body of one of the panners was retrieved by fellow panners on the same day and the other is still trapped.
The now deceased panners were working in the mine shaft together with Mangezi Moyo (34) and Wellington Tshuma (24) who managed to escape before the shaft collapsed.
The quartet was working in the mine shaft near Dubane River on Friday at around 9pm when they decided to take a nap only to wake up on Saturday morning to find the shaft flooded.
Moyo and Tshuma managed to escape from the flooded shaft before it collapsed trapping the deceased.
Matabeleland South provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Loveness Mangena confirmed the incident which occurred in Thornwood East area near Colleen Bawn.
“We recorded a fatal mine accident near Dubane River in Thornwood East where two illegal gold panners died after a shaft they were working in collapsed. Four men Wellington Tshuma, Mengezi Moyo and the two deceased were working in a shaft on Friday night and they slept in the shaft.
“In the early hours of the morning they woke up to find the shaft flooded. Tshuma and Moyo managed to escape before the mine shaft collpased trapping the deceased. One body has been retrieved while the other one is still trapped underground,” she said.
Insp Mangena said the names of the deceased were being withheld as their next of kin have not yet been advised.
She said it was unfortunate that lives continue to be lost due to illegal gold panning activities taking place in the province.
Insp Mangena urged all those intending to venture into mining activities to acquire necessary documentation first and get allocated appropriate land for their mining activities.
Ministry of Mines and Mining Development Matabeleland South provincial mining director, Mr Khumbulani Mlangeni said his department visited the incident site for an assessment.
He said efforts were underway to secure an excavator to retrieve the remaining body.
“These illegal gold panners were digging in an unregistered area near a river. It had just rained and due to the proximity to the river, the pillar between their pits and the water was very weak and the water gushed through the bottom of the shaft and quickly filled the shaft.
“The two who survived were actually flushed out by the water.
“We assessed the incident site and established that it will be impossible to retrieve the body manually. The first body was retrieved by the gold panners manually but it was very risky as they were digging towards the stream where the ground is unstable.
“We are trying to get an excavator from one of the local miners to retrieve the body. It might take us long because the excavator will have to navigate its way through a narrow path but we hope to have completed this work as soon as possible,” he said. – The Chronicle
