Ekurhuleni mayor calls on army to help rescue boy trapped in mine

Rock falls and oxygen deficiency in the mine shaft which a boy, five, fell down in the Jerusalem informal settlement near Witfield in Ekurhuleni on Saturday hampered rescue efforts yesterday and the search was temporarily suspended.

Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (Edems) spokesperson William Ntladi explained that rescue efforts had resumed at 9.30am yesterday but at 10.30am the first set of rocks fell in the shaft, and the search camera was only able to reach a depth of 60 metres in the shaft.

This is half the depth the camera was able to reach on Tuesday afternoon when rescue efforts were suspended for the ground around the shaft’s opening to be excavated in a bid to remove the loose ground and create easier access into the shaft.

Ntladi said a secondary rock fall occurred at 12.20pm yesterday and the search was temporarily suspended.

Yesterday afternoon, Edems, mine rescue services, the department of mineral resources and political heads sat with the boy’s family to discuss a way forward.

“The possibility of finding the child alive at this stage is very minimal,” said Ntladi, and he described how rescue technicians had found that the water base level was at a depth of 140m and they did not know how deep the mine acid water was.

He added that there was a challenge of oxygen deficiency from a depth of 36 metres.

Ntladi said the Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina said yesterday afternoon that he had requested assistance and expertise from the department of defence and was awaiting a response.

Edems had been onsite since Saturday afternoon after the boy was reported missing. Ntladi said the boy had been playing with other children at the edge of the opening of the shaft when he fell into the hole.

Mine rescue services and the department of mineral resources were then called to the scene to assist, and for consecutive days since the incident rescue technicians battled with the unstable ground, gases and the depth of the shaft which posed as challenges in rescuing the boy.

Illegal miners, gathered at the shaft, believed they could recover the child if they were given the opportunity.

Ntladi said the professional rescue technicians had found that the risk of rock fall, as well as the oxygen deficiency from a depth of 36 metres, posed too great a risk.

Ntladi added that investigations revealed that the shaft was not used for illegal mining as it had been a closed shaft until the ground had caved in about two to three weeks ago.

He said the decline of the shaft was at about 550. Razor wire cordoned off the site yesterday to deter anyone from going near the shaft.

March 1, 6.32pm:

Rescue operations to save Richard Thole have ceased after Ekurhuleni’s emergency services couldn’t send anyone down the mine shaft without endangering another life.

According to Times LIVE, Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina has now called on the army to send its experts to assist with helping retrieve Thole.

“We are dreading the eventuality of the likely outcome‚” said Masina.

CEO of Mine Rescue Services Christo de Klerk said: “It will not be possible to continue without endangering the life of any person.”

Mine rescue services were then called to the scene to assist and, for days, rescue workers have been working to rescue the boy, but the unstable ground in the shaft, gases and depth posed challenges to their efforts. Ntladi said the water level was at 140m.

On Wednesday morning, Jerusalem informal settlement community members resumed their post looking on as rescue workers set to work sending the camera on a specialised dolly down the opening of the shaft again, after the excavation was completed.

Ekurhuleni MMC for community safety Vivian Chauke returned to the site on Wednesday morning and was briefed by the rescue services on the progress.

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