Timeslive reports that Limpopo police have released the names of the six mineworkers who were killed in an underground fire at the Palabora Mining Company in Phalaborwa over the weekend.
Amongst them was 60-year-old Vula Mayindi, while the youngest in the group was Russel Ricardo Warne‚ aged 24. The others were named as Peter Selowa‚ 32; Kgotso Peter Sekgobela‚ 29; Lebogang Maake‚ 37; and 26-year-old Shaun Mashigo. The Sowetan wrote on Tuesday of the trauma of Mashigo's mother‚ Kedibone, at having to identify her son's charred remains. "I went to identify him and he was burnt beyond recognition. His face was unrecognisable. It's so painful to me that my son died such a horrible death," lamented Kedibone Mashigo. Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said that police were still investigating the deaths of the six. “The cause of this incident is still not clear at this stage‚ but the police investigations in conjunction with other role players‚ including the affected mine‚ will tell as they are still continuing‚” Ngoepe indicated. All but one of the mineworkers who were trapped underground at the copper mine died.
- Read this report by Naledi Shange in full at Timeslive
- Read too, Mom identifies son’s charred body, at SowetanLive
And also, Limpopo mine fire: Victim’s family hurt by lack of transparency, at EWN
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page