Preparations have begun for the recovery mission of the 22 people trapped underground at the Gloria coal mine in Middleburg, Mpumalanga.
The illegal miners remain trapped underground after an explosion while they were allegedly stealing copper cables.
The mine’s rescue practitioner Mike Elliot says the process began with blowing away dangerous gas in the mine shafts.
“The mine services rescue teams are in the shaft now, and they are making sure that we are pumping fresh air down into the mine… as the air starts to clear the shaft and the rescue services team will go down the shaft and they would make it safe, and they would put tail towers to see which direct the wind is blowing at the bottom of the shaft, they are going to establish what we called air base and from that air base recovery will start.”
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