Survive 78-hour ordeal trapped deep underground as police, fire brigade, first aid workers, other miners, surrounding community unite for bigsaving effort
FIFTEEN miners stuck hundreds of feet underground for the past three days at a gold mine in Geitaregion have been rescued, all of them apparently safe and sound albeit exhausted and feeling banged up, ending an ordeal that began when part of the Chinese-run mine collapsed.
The Geitaregional police commander, MponjoliMwabulambo, told The Guardian in a telephone interview that all 15men were hoisted to the surface at the RZ Union Mining Company Limited gold mine in the Nyarugusu area at around 10am yesterday morning.
They had been trapped deep down for all of 78 hours, since the dawn hours of January 26 (around 4am),when a section of the small mine caved in on them as they worked.
Said RPC Mwabulambo: "All 15 miners who were rescued today are fine...they were able to breathe despite being trapped so far underground, although they did not have access to any food. We have taken them to hospital for further medical attention."
Records from the Ministry of Energy and Minerals show that the RZ Union Mining Company Ltd, which suffered the latest mine collapse, is majority owned by Canadian shareholders although being run by Chinese nationals.
One of the miners rescued from underground yesterday was a Chinese national identified by only one name - Mo.
WHAT TRANSPIRED YESTERDAY
A frantic rescue effort involving the police, fire brigade, a small-scale miners association, and other stakeholders was launched immediately after the RZ Union mine in Nyarugusucollapsed in the early hours of Thursday.
But as the hours turned into days, hopes of finding the trapped miners still alive started to wane … until yesterday’s major breakthrough.
This time, luck was on the side of the miners as they were all rescued alive.
Rescue workers said theminers were able to deliver several handwritten messages saying they were in urgent need of food; namely "soda, bread, porridge and biscuits."
This was after initial efforts to establish communicationwith them viawalkie talkie radio failed.
In one of the notes, they said they were on the brink of starvation, with one of them so weakened by food deprivation that he was no longer able to speak.
The urge to smoke also seemed to have overwhelmed at least one of them, despite the fact that they were trapped in a very confined space where breathing alone was probably a luxury.
Up came another scribbled note asking the rescuers to send down some cigarettes, and matches.
The trapped miners were also able to provide rescue workers with a full list of all 15 of them trapped underground, as follows:
AnicethMasanja, Dickson Morris, YonaKachungwa, DottoJuma, Amani Sylvester, MgaruraKayanda, Augustine Robert, Hassan Idd, MsamtangaCosmas, Rafael Nzumbi, Rashid Shiringapi, Ezekiel Bujiku, ShekuTogwa, Mr Mo (Chinese national), SabatoFrimon.
MORE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS NEEDED
In a statement, Vice President SamiaSuluhu Hassan hailed the rescue operation, saying: "The joint effort, unity and cooperation shown by various groups who were involved in rescuing our fellow countrymen who were buried by a landslide ... should be emulated by other people."
But the VP - who is currently acting president –alsowarnedother gold mine owners in the country to ensure all safety regulations are observed to avoid fatal onsite accidents.
Unsafe and unregulated illegal mining is widespread in some parts of Tanzania, which is Africa's fourth-largest gold producer after South Africa, Ghana and Mali.
Accidents such as this latest one in Nyarugusu are common at small-scale mines where safety regulations are loosely observed - and more often than not the result is loss of life.
It is alleged that some employees at the RZ Union mine had complained against poor working conditions before the near-fatal January 26 incident.
In 2015, an illegal gold mine in Kahama district, Shinyanga region collapsed, killing 19 people. This was close to Bulyanhulu gold mine which is owned by Acacia MiningPlc, formerly known as African Barrick Gold.
In November 2015, five people were rescued and one body was recovered after spending 41 days trapped by a landslide at another small-scale gold mine in KahamaDistrict.
The miners said they survived by eating roots and drinking groundwater seeping through the landslide.
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