The elevator collapsed as workers were being brought up at the end of their workday. Eleven people died accidentally in a South African platinum mine on Monday, the company that owns the mine, Impala Platinum, announced on Tuesday.
“86 employees were standing in this elevator, eleven lost their lives, all the others were transferred to hospitals,” said a company spokesperson, adding that some of them were seriously injured. In this thousand 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 “collect the miners at the end of their shift ”, shortly before 5 p.m. Monday (4 p.m. French time), explained Johan Theron, spokesperson for the mining company. At the third stop, “it suddenly started going back down,” he added, explaining that the system was automated.
Lots of broken ankles and legs
An operator “attempted to apply emergency protocols” but the elevator continued to descend and only stopped at the bottom, when the counterweight rose to the surface and then “got trapped by jacks”, causing “a sudden stop”. “Some died, others were seriously injured, others escaped with scratches,” detailed the spokesperson, specifying that among the injured many had fractures in their ankles and legs.
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. “Our hearts are heavy for the lives lost and for those affected by this devastating accident,” Nico Muller, CEO of Impala Platinum (Implats), said in a statement.
Frequent fatal accidents
“We are deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of our colleagues and are in the process of ensuring that all next of kin have been contacted.” South Africa, very rich in minerals, is the world’s leading producer of platinum. Fatal accidents involving miners are common in the country, which has the world’s deepest mines and is a major exporter of gold, diamonds, coal and other raw materials.
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 led to the birth of the city.