The rescue of hundreds of miners in a deep South African gold mine began with a camera and a note
CARLETONVILLE, South Africa — A specialized camera was lowered late last year into an almost 2.6-kilometer- deep mineshaft in South Africa where hundreds of miners were reported to be trapped, starving, dehydrated and desperate to get out. With no architectural plans of the actual mineshaft and its levels and tunnels, the camera reached 1,280 meters underground and gave rescuers their first visuals: A large group of miners was seen standing around on a level, clearly waiting for help to arrive. We could not determine the number of people that are standing there, but it was evident that people were standing around and they were in need of help to come up to the surface,” said Mannas Fourie, CEO of Mine Rescue Services South Africa, the private company contracted to rescue the miners. “Thereafter, they made a decision themselves to say how many people they can bring out and how they’re going to alter between bringing out bodies or bringing out people.” Fourie said the volunteers conveyed that their biggest concern was to control the crowd of miners, because everybody was eager to come out. “We could see as they climbed into the cage, they made way for each other to get as many people in at one time,” he said.
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