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Vaal Reefs Elevator Disaster
May 10, 1995 - 105 Killed
Deep, dirty, and dangerous - the life of a South
African goldminer is often short and brutal. More than
69,000 miners were killed in work-related accidents
between 1911 and 1994. On May 10, 1995, this horrific
safety record dropped still further when 105 miners
tumbled to their death down a lift shaft at the Vaal
Reefs gold mine. The tragedy is the worst elevator
disaster ever recorded. The elevator entombing the miners
gained such vicious velocity that on impact it collapsed
to a third of its original size.
"Pieces of
flesh were scattered all over," said Union president
James Motlatsi immediately after the tragedy. "A
two-floor mining elevator was crushed into a one-floor tin
box." The disaster struck when a runaway train plunged
down Vaal Reef's number 2 shaft. The train crashed on
top of an elevator carrying miners to the deep gold
seams - sending those trapped inside hurtling to their
death 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles) below the surface.
The grossly contorted state of the elevator after its
fall meant identifying the victims was a long and grim
process. Two days after the disaster, James Duncan,
spokesman for mine managers Anglo American Corp., told
reporters, "The bodies are badly mutilated, it's hot and
they're beginning to decompose."
The train's
driver managed to survive after jumping clear before the
train careered down the shaft. The locomotive had
entered the wrong tunnel and crashed through steel
barriers intended to stop smaller machinery.
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