Bodies of two last remaining trapped Kusasalethu miners recovered

31st August 2017 By: News24Wire

CARLETONVILLE – The bodies of the two trapped miners at the Kusasalethu mine near Carletonville have been recovered, Harmony Gold said on Thursday.

Harmony Gold spokesperson Marian van der Walt said the bodies were found at around 12:00 on Thursday afternoon.

"Sadly, they had both succumbed to their injuries. We are currently in the process of bringing the two bodies to the surface," Van der Walt said.

"Harmony’s board of directors and management expressed their heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of Mr Matuba, Mr Mokhele and Mr Mokemane (all stope team members) and Mr Moganedi and Mr Sethafuno (both rock drill operators) who have lost their lives as a result of this tragic incident."

The miners' first names were not immediately available.

A tremor measuring 1.2 on the Richter scale caused sections of the gold mine to collapse at around 10:30 on Friday, August 25.

There were about 3 000 miners working at the time of the tremor and all apart from the five were safe.

The five were trapped on Friday.

Over the weekend, the bodies of two miners who had succumbed to their injuries were found and brought to the surface.

A third body was found on Monday morning.

Van der Walt said they would conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of the incident.