MIDDELBURG – Rescue and body retrieval workers on Friday afternoon brought to the surface 13 more bodies of suspected copper cable thieves from the underground area at Gloria coal mine near Middelburg in Mpumalanga, provincial police spokesman Brigadier Leonard Hlathi said.

“The workers could not continue with the operations due to the severe smoke which prohibited them, and they will apparently go down again on Monday,” said Hlathi.

“The total number of retrieved bodies is now 18. An inquest docket has been opened for investigation. We are also investigating a case of trespassing in relation to this incident.”

Hlathi did not immediately say what the cause of the smoke was, but referred further enquiries to the mine’s management. Gloria coal mine’s business rescue practitioners’ representative, Mike Elliot, said they would issue a statement with full details later on Friday.

The 13 retrieved bodies are those of some of about 20 people who were trapped at Gloria coal mine’s underground area about three weeks ago, when an explosion occurred while they were allegedly stealing cables. 

The rescue and recovery operations started immediately after the explosion and saw the bodies of five men retrieved from underground. A sixth man was brought to the surface alive and taken to the hospital for treatment, where he was later discharged. 

The rescue and retrieval operations were subsequently marred by, among other things, the rising level of methane gas that made the conditions underground unsafe. This prompted the sporadic stoppages of the operations for safety reasons.

Gloria coal mine, which is owned by the Gupta family, was placed under business rescue a year ago and its workers were put on special leave in December last year, said Elliot. He said the business rescue process was necessitated by the fact that the Guptas found themselves without a bank account.