Eight trapped miners in Zimbabwean mine rescued alive

EIGHT artisanal miners who were trapped in a flooded mine tunnel in Battlefields since Tuesday, have been retrieved alive but looking traumatized by the ordeal.

Local Government Minister July Moyo said in a statement on Friday the government had declared the incident a disaster and that up to 70 people could have been trapped in the pits.

Visibly exhausted, muddied and worn out, the survivors were saved this Saturday morning at around 7 am following brisk efforts to drain water from the tunnels by mining firms working together with other artisanal miners familiar with the pits.

The accident in Battlefields, 175km west of Harare, happened on Tuesday night and has shone a light on the dangers facing illegal gold miners, who last year contributed a large part of Zimbabwe's record 33-tonne bullion output.

"So far we have managed to bring out eight miners alive and we are yet to assess and find any more people down there who are still alive," Tapererwa Paswavaviri, the government deputy chief mining engineer told reporters at the accident scene.

Some of the miners who were not caught in the tragedy were lowered into the shafts and retrieved their colleagues using a rope.

The survivors could not walk and had to be carried to a police tent pitched a few meters away from where they were rescued.

There were no signs of any ambulances to offer assistance to survivors.

Paswavaviri said, “Indications are that some of the guys succumbed to gassing from their blasting operations; that was the major cause of fatalities.

“From their (survivors) accounts, it doesn’t seem likely that there are survivors.”

Crowds continue swelling in the mining area following the worst mine accident to befall the country in decades.

Local and international journalists have also descended on the area.

The government says up to 70 may have died from the tragedy while artisanal miners familiar with operations at Silver Moon and Cricket Mines where the tragedy occurred say deaths could have been over 100.