"Human Error" Caused Bayhorse Mine Disaster - Minister Soda
Mines and Mining Development Minister Zhemu Soda has revealed that the Bayhorse Mine accident was a result of haphazard extraction methods that were supervised by unqualified personnel, reported NewZimbabwe.com.
More than nine miners were killed in the accident which occurred on Friday last week at Bayhorse Mine in Chakari, Chegutu District, Mashonaland West Province.
Addressing the media in Harare during a Gold Mobilisation Send-Off workshop held Monday, Soda blamed the mine authorities for the accident. He said:
The accident at Chakari happened as a result of non-compliance, so in as much as we could be talking of the water (logging), to us, the accident was mainly due to human error.
We are also hearing that there was no qualified mine manager at the affected mine who could actually give guidance on what could be undertaken in the shafts.
Soda revealed that the Ministry of Mines was only informed about the accident six hours later and as a result, mining engineers could not be deployed to the scene timeously. He said:
The most unfortunate thing is how the information was relayed to the Ministry of Mines after the accident; the police called us at 4 pm when the accident had occurred at 10 am.
So, our mining engineers had to be mobilised to the scene and started working with other stakeholders who had already converged at the mine to provide rescue operations.
During the night of that same Friday, two bodies were retrieved, and eight miners were rescued and taken to hospital.
Two more bodies were retrieved the following day, and as we speak, we are still to account for some people.
However, we hear from the rescue teams that some people were seen trapped in tunnels, suggesting that they could be dead.
Soda acknowledged there were conflicting figures for fatalities, missing persons and survivors.
Mines Deputy Minister, Polite Kambamura visited the accident site on Saturday and said he was briefed that 34 employees had entered the gold mine when the shaft collapsed.
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