Ekapa Mudslide: Families Clinging to Hope for Five Miners
March 04, 26
(IDEX Online) - Families of five miners trapped in an underground mudslide over two weeks ago at the Ekapa diamond mine, in Kimberley, South Africa, are clinging to hope that they might still be alive.
They are also angry that owners of the mine, who subsequently closed the mine and filed for liquidation, have kept them in the dark about operations to recover their loved ones.
"We are just praying that they come out alive," Lerato Mohatlane, Kimberley organiser for NUMSA (National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa) told public broadcaster SABC.
"The families, each and every day, each and every night when we sleep, we do pray that these five gentlemen, they come out there alive … we are calling for the nation to be with these families in their prayers."
Hopes are fading, however, for the men, who were trapped 890m down the mine's Du Toitspan shaft on 17 February without food supplies, drinkable water or adequate ventilation.
Mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe said on February 24 that their chances of survival were "minimal". No signs of life have been found and no bodies have been recovered.
One family member told the independent news channel eNCA: "It's been a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of heartbreak and crying and it's very frustrating at this moment because of the lack of answers we get and the lack of support we get."
Ekapa Mining said it filed for liquidation - with the loss of over 1,000 jobs -because repairs to the Du Toitspan shaft would be costly and could take up to 18 months, which was unachievable under current financial conditions.
CEO Jahn Hohne said the Ekapa disaster followed 18 months of "unprecedented pressure" on the diamond industry, he said due to reduced global demand, increased production of lower-cost synthetic diamonds, trade tariffs affecting key markets, and declining natural rough diamond prices.
Videograb shows Lerato Mohatlane, of the NUMSA (National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa), which represents some of the diamond workers at Ekapa.