Miner killed as shaft caves in

Beitbridge Bureau
A 23-YEAR-OLD suspected gold panner from Bulawayo was killed while his colleague escaped with minor injuries when a mine shaft they had been working caved-in last Friday.
The incident occurred in Dakwezi, Esigodini at around 8am.
It is understood that Albert Ncube and his friend Mathias Nyathi, both of Bulawayo, had worked in the shaft several times without incident.
However, last Friday the walls caved in and buried them under the debris.
Ncube died before he could be rescued while Nyathi survived long enough to scream for help, which came in the form of villagers who happened to be passing by.
Nyathi sustained minor injuries and a police report was made after which Ncube’s body was taken to Esigodini Hospital mortuary for post-mortem.
Matabeleland South police spokesman Inspector Tafanana Dzirutwe on Monday said: “Investigations into the matter are in progress and as police we continue to urge people to desist from gold panning as it is not only unlawful, but also dangerous to their lives.
“This is really worrying since we have lost a lot of lives through these illegal means of mining.
“We also want to warn the panners that we are out in full force to deal with them. Their days are numbered.”
A few months ago, six gold panners from Gwanda were trapped in a disused mine shaft.
All of them died with four bodies being found after three days while the other two were retrieved after five days of searching by the police and the community.