‘We just want them to be found’
|Published
Felix Pfungo mine worker who was underground when they realised that something was wrong at time his colleagues container was swallowed by the ground at the Lily mine, outside Barberton.096 Photo: Matthews Baloyi 21/02/2016 Felix Pfungo mine worker who was underground when they realised that something was wrong at time his colleagues container was swallowed by the ground at the Lily mine, outside Barberton.096 Photo: Matthews Baloyi 21/02/2016
Barberton - The gravel road that leads to Lily Mine in Louieville, Mpumalanga, gradually inclines as it stretches ahead.
The gravel is greyish black and causes a cloud of dust as speeding vehicles from the mine pass by. Once in a while, a water tanker drives by and sprays water on the gravel.
Towards the mine and in one of the houses on the mountain live the Pfungo brothers, Roi and Felix. The two left Mozambique to look for jobs in South Africa. Felix works at Lily Mine while Roi is at Barbrook, another mine nearby.
Each day before going underground, Felix would get into a container. His name would be taken. The workers would take his appointment card to confirm he had gone under. Should there be an accident, the mine management would know who was down.
Felix and his colleagues would also be given lamps.
Sometimes, the people at the container would be Pretty Nkambule, Yvonne Mnisi and Solomon Nyerende.
Felix would chat with them as they processed him.
“Sbali (which is what they call each other), tell us about your country. We would like to go with you to Maputo one day. Sbali, next time you go to Mozambique, please bring us (bread),” Nkambule, Nyerende and Mnisi would say.
On February 5, Felix arrived to start his usual shift. He got into the container and found Nkambule, Mnisi and Nyerende.
Nkambule took down his name and appointment card. Mnisi gave him the lamp. Nyerende was busy with some papers.
Like always, Felix chatted and then made his way to the cart that would take them underground.
The 46-year-old man said he and the other miners went underground without a glitch. But they soon realised something must be wrong. As they alighted, they were hit by dust and strong winds.
“We were taken to a waiting area. Our supervisor called out our names to ensure we were all there. We were scared and told him we wanted to surface,” he said.
“We climbed back into the cart, but just as we reached the exit, we could not get out because of a huge ditch.”
Felix said they had to go back and find another route out.
They were panicking because they didn’t know what was going on. They went to a spot where they could use a ladder to get to the surface. They were 48m underground, he said.
“A decision was taken that we climb the ladder one at a time. We had to wait until one person was on the surface before the next person could use the ladder as we had to guard against overloading it and damaging it before we could all reach the surface,” he said.
At the top, they were whisked into waiting ambulances and taken to hospital because there were concerns about dust inhalation.
When Felix reached the surface, he realised he and his colleagues were covered in black dust.
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At the hospital, they were given oxygen and an injection. While his colleagues were discharged the same day, Felix stayed overnight because his blood pressure was dangerously high.
Later, the father-of-five found out what had happened.
“We are crying; we just want them to be found. I had been chatting and laughing with them before the accident,” he said.
As rescue operations began, Roi was at Barbrook, where he works as a drilling operator.
At the time of the accident, he was underground. All the miners were evacuated.
undefinedThey went to Lily Mine to see what had happened.
There were many people there and some were being taken to hospital. Those who saw what happened said they saw the earth cave in.
“They said they saw a water tank go down first, followed by a compressor and a container that had three people inside.
“They heard screams coming from the container as it went down.
“They said there was no way anyone could have tried to help because they also thought the earth where they stood was unstable, so they were scattered everywhere, fleeing,” Roi said.
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The rescue operation has been halted and is expected to resume in two weeks.
Meanwhile, Lily Mine workers like Felix are working at Barbrook. They still go to Lily Mine daily to support the families of the trio.
CAPE TIMES