APA-Pretoria (South Africa) The South African government has set up a body to investigate the cause of the mining accident at Impala Platinum mine in Rustenburg city that killed 11 people on Monday, Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy chief mining inspector David Msiza has announced.
The workers died when a cage carrying 86 mineworkers developed a mechanical fault in its conveyance system, resulting in it plunging to the bottom of the shaft
According to the mine, 75 injured mineworkers have been hospitalised and 10 of them are said to be in critical condition.
The government has set a three-month deadline to complete its investigation into the cause of the Impala Platinum mine disaster, Msiza said on Tuesday.
He said the investigation’s purpose would be to determine the cause of the mechanical failure.
Thereafter an inquiry would be held to establish the guilty party, he added.
However, the probe would have to respect the fact that “there is a number of employees that are still in hospital and have been heavily affected by this accident,” the official said.
He added: “So we will have to give them an opportunity to recover and also for counselling to happen for all those employees involved and their families. Thereafter, we will move into the inquiry.”
With this accident, some 52 miners have died at the Impala Platinum mine alone this year, which has some of the deepest mine shafts in the world.
NM/jn/APA