Miner Recounts 4-day Ordeal Trapped Underground, Says He Ate Soil To Survive
22-year-old Rania Moyo says he is lucky to be alive after he was trapped 100 metres underground at Velocity 36 Mine in Silobela for four days last week.
Moyo left home around 4 AM on Thursday last week and entered the mine shaft with his workmates at around 5 AM.
Soon after, the shaft started collapsing and his two workmates managed to escape just before a big boulder fell and blocked the opening, trapping Moyo inside the shaft. He said:
The moment l realised l was trapped underground in that shaft, l prayed to God asking him to accept my soul in heaven because l did not think l would come out alive.
It was around 5 AM and we had just entered the shaft when the mine started caving in.
We immediately moved towards the entrance trying to escape before it could get blocked.
Moyo said he was trapped in the shaft in a space so small that he could not even stretch his legs or sit up straight.
He said the place was so dark he could not even see his own hands and the temperatures also dropped and he felt like he was going to freeze. He said:
I could not even move a muscle and l knew screaming was not going to help. I do not know when was the last time l prayed, but on that day, l prayed really hard, asking God to accept my soul when l get to heaven.
I apologised for all the wrong things that l have done in my life because l didn’t think I would survive.
Moyo said he is not really sure what day or time it was when he finally heard movement and voices of people outside trying to communicate with him. He said:
Because l had no food or water, whenever I started feeling weak l would scoop a handful of soil and eat it to try and regain my energy.
He said the shaft became his home and toilet for what he has now been told were four days. Said Moyo:
On the day the entrance was opened l could not believe l had survived. It seemed like a dream because l have never heard of anyone who survives being underground for days without food and water.
He was taken to Silobela District Hospital where he was checked and given boosters to regain his energy.
He was discharged on the same day and is still recovering from home.
Moyo said he has no choice but to go back to the shaft as soon as he regains his strength as the job is his only source of income.
The miner’s mother, Polite Moyo, said her son was pulled out of the mine on Monday, which was the fifth day since he got trapped underground.
Kwekwe District Civil Protection Unit (CPU) chairperson Fortune Mpungu said the rescue efforts involved the Ministry of Mines, police, small-scale miners, the community, and the CPU.
He said the teams camped outside the shaft regularly engaging with the miner to ensure that he was still alive. | Chronicle
