The accident occurred on Monday at a platinum mine some 150 km northwest of Johannesburg. It also left 75 injured, fourteen of them serious.
Eleven employees of a South African platinum mine died in the accident of the elevator which took them to the surface at the end of their working day, we learned Tuesday from the company which owns the ‘facility.
The tragedy occurred on Monday. In this 1000 meter deep shaft, some 150 km northwest of Johannesburg, the elevator picked up miners at the bottom and stopped several times on the way up to “recover the miners at the end of their shift “, explained Johan Theron, spokesperson for the Impala Platinum company.
Shortly before 5 p.m., “86 employees were standing in this elevator” and, at the third stop, “it suddenly started going down,” he added, explaining that the system was automated. An operator “attempted to apply emergency protocols”, but the elevator continued to descend, finally stopping its journey “almost instantly”, when the counterweight returned to the surface, after a free fall of approximately 180 meters.
The shock was so violent that “eleven (miners) lost their lives”. The remaining 75 required hospitalization and fourteen of them were in critical condition, the company said. Many of the injured suffer from broken ankles and legs.
An unusual emergency stop failure
The rescue operation has been completed, said Impala Platinum, which said it was “devastated” by this deadly accident, adding that all operations in the mine were suspended on Tuesday. An investigation has been opened.
South Africa is home to the world’s deepest mines, and many sites have elevators that can transport more than 100 miners at a time. Elevator safety mechanisms “are found in mines across the world” and “the failure of the emergency stop protocol is therefore unusual,” Impala Platinum explained, emphasizing the tragic nature of this accident.
Dozens of miners lose their lives every year in the country
The sector employs hundreds of thousands of people in this southern African country, which is very rich in deposits of gold, diamonds, coal, and other minerals. The country is the world’s largest exporter of platinum. Fatal accidents involving minors are common in the country, still claiming dozens of victims each year. However, safety in South African mines has improved over the past twenty years. According to official statistics, some 50 employees died in mining accidents in 2022.
The Johannesburg region, which still has many active gold or platinum mines, is dotted with slag heaps, shafts, and deep trenches left by generations of miners, including the arrival during the gold rush in the 1880s that led to the birth of the city.
