Africa News - Deaths in the Laanglaagte Mine

The most recent reports in Africa entail the newest mining misfortunes. SibanganiTsikwe, formerly a Johannesburg gardener, wanted to seek out his wealth by becoming a miner and heading to the deep subterranean mines of South Africa. This could certainly turn out to be a deadly judgment on his part.

Tsikwe and some of his friends have gone into one of the deep subterranean mines on September 5. Furnished with only a head torch and a pick axe, they descended through a shaft in the Language gold mine in Johannesburg.

Following that fateful day, Tsikwe has not been found since. The Laanglaagte gold mine is one of the most desired gold mine in South Africa. It was discovered many moons ago in 1886 and has been one of the primary reservoirs of gold bearing rock in record. This clarifies why it is a preferred place for miners. The tough part is that this gold mine is massive. Natural seams inside the mine stretches for many hundreds of kilometers east, west and south. Positioned under the Witwatersrand Basin, this gold mine has provided about 2 billion ounces of gold. This is the reason why Johannesburg known as Ebola, or the City of Gold by some residents.

These details from African continent were most likely not even close Tsikwe's thoughts as he descended into the Laanglagte mine. Through the use of an entangled string linked to an old tree stump, he and his friends traversed the mine's vertical downward slope and went much further into one of the most risky locations on earth. The Laanglagte mine has claimed countless lives in its past. Up till now, a great deal of unauthorized miners still expire in the labyrinth that stretches for many hundreds of kilometers. Even the police forces do not know what number of miners have perished searching for prosperity in this mine. The underlying cause for this is that these miners , who are unauthorized workers , are not keen to to confess to the police the deaths they have witnessed below the ground as they are fearful that they will be arrested by the police and deported .

One good reason why there are a great deal of deaths in this mine is that officials are not able to carry out effectual rescue operations when they are called in. The cause of this is that this mine is just very treacherous specifically after heavy rains. It was recorded that Tsikwe and his companions structured a four day incursion and have almost certainly descended kilometer deep into the mine. When they unable to come back after the predicted date, Tsikwe's brother arranged a rescue operation. Of the 16 strong rescue crew, 12 have made a comeback after the other 4 stumbled upon toxic gas and become lost. Know more about the tragedy in laanglaagte mine in africa news.