This should be a lesson to Harmony

'this should be a lesson to harmony'

one by one they came up from the depths, their eyes glazed, some smiling, others near tears. their faces tell the story of one of the biggest and most successful rescue operations in mining history.

by 8am on thursday more than 1 000 of the 3 200 miners who were trapped about 1.5km underground at harmony gold's elandsrand mine near carletonville had been lifted to safety.

the men were trapped when a falling pipe damaged the main elevator. rescuers then began lifting workers through a smaller shaft and estimated that it would take until 4pm on thursday to get them all out.

'i'm very happy. i'm safe through the grace of god'
exhausted, hungry and stressed miners told of their 30-hour ordeal. they were angry because, they said, management had not communicated properly with them and an alternative escape route was under water. mine spokesperson amelia soares said: "no one has reported any water."

the national union of mine-workers also alleged that lack of maintenance had caused the pipe to collapse and fall down the mine, which cut the electricity supply to the lift normally used to hoist workers out of the mine.

soares said harmony had spent r1,2-billion on its shafts in 2006 and a further r114-million of capital spending.

minerals and energy minister buyelwa sonjica was due to arrive at the mine later on thursday morning.

harmony chairperson patrice motsepe had been at the scene the whole night, soares said.

'for every death in a mine, there should be a day of mourning'
harmony gold general manager stan bierschenk said that at 6.20am on wednesday, a 70cm diameter pipe carrying compressed air had ruptured and fallen down the mine's main shaft. about 15m of the pipe had broken and crashed down the shaft, damaging its steelworks and cables.

the main shaft is used to transport workers down into the 3.2km- deep mine. the pipe also cut power to a subshaft.

throughout wednesday, mine management tried to come up with a way to bring the trapped miners to the surface. it was decided to modify an rv (rock and ventilation) shaft by inserting a cage capable of holding 75 people.

at 12.45am the first batch of workers came up to the surface. and every half-hour another 75 emerged.

it is understood that the miners who have been underground the longest descended as early as 6pm on tuesday.

miner isaac motswane, 54, went down at 5.30am on wednesday and was due to work an eight-hour shift. he resurfaced at 4am on thursday morning.

"i was not scared. i was just waiting. i am happy but tired," he said. they had no food with them but had water.

miners had sat talking in the dark until it was their turn to go to the lift.

"some were scared, but we helped to calm them down. the people in the subshaft didn't know what was happening."

in pitch black darkness, david mokgosi was sitting and thinking about his young sons, tumelo and kagiso.

he agonised about how worried his wife aletta and the boys must be as he remained trapped

when he finally emerged at 4am, 24 hours after starting his shift, his first priority was to call his family.

"i'm very happy. i'm safe through the grace of god," he said.

"this should be a lesson to harmony. they must make means in future to have an escape route. this one took too long."

at the rv shaft, harmony's boss-es anxiously commanded the rescue. among them were motsepe, chairman of the harmony board of directors, bierschenk and alwyn pretorius, ceo of harmony gold's south african operation.

bierschenk said the temperature underground was bearable.

motsepe said the prime imperative was that every single employee came out safely. the rescue operation was expected to continue throughout the day.

"we will work with the government and the union to see what led to the accident and to ensure similar accidents don't happen again. we have to learn from what happened here."

he said the pipe that had ruptured was maintained every week.

num spokesperson senzeni zokwana said shop stewards had gone down the mine to help keep the trapped workers calm.

"we suspect negligence," he said.

"our members are dying and will continue to until we change the culture of mining. as a union, we are concerned. this year we have already lost many lives.

"for every death in a mine, there should be a day of mourning.

"we must value every life."

zokwana also questioned the adequacy of escape routes in mines and suggested that mines should be linked to provide escape routes.

he said the miners still trapped below ground this morning had enough water and oxygen and were not in any danger.

the majority were waiting in station areas for the cage.

harare molapo went down at 4am on wednesday to help keep people calm. he said the miners were not all that scared but were eager to get out of the mine.

"it was very dark down there," he said.