Have you noticed how we can go through life thinking that we know who our next door neighbours are, we notice things about them and just imagine that their lives are like ours.
A few hiccups every now and again, a flurry of activity that you wish you could understand, or just the day to day mundane life of a fellow human being?
Well, I thought that tonight I would share a story that was told to me yesterday, by someone I have known for 15 years, and find that he has had a situation in his life which is truly horrific, and yet, I knew nothing about. I have his permission to tell it as he told it to me.
George was in my flat, looking for Petros to help him with a maintenance matter. While here he noticed that I have two Miners Lamps that were used to detect Methane in the mine shafts and asked me where I had got them from.
I explained that they belonged to my younger brother who had been an Electrical Engineer on the Gold Mines in Welkom and I had inherited them from him when he died in 2016.
Then I asked him how he knew about them? It turns out that he has one in his flat as well! I enquired which mine he had worked on and he explained that it was not a gold mine but a coal mineā¦. And the story started.
Fifty years ago on the 6th June George was living in Wankie, in Rhodesia. He was not employed by the Coal Mine, but was affiliated to it through his work. Coming from a gold mining family I am aware that on every mine, when an accident happens, a Proto Team is on hand, or readily available to help out in any emergency. These highly trained miners volunteer for the most dangerous jobs possible on South African Mines. They go into areas of collapsed tunnels and working areas to rescue their fellow miners.
George asked whether he could become a Proto Team participant around the time that this story unfolded and was one of the team leaders on the day of the Kamandama Disaster.
It was a normal day when suddenly all hell broke loose. A booming sound was heard as gas and smoke erupted out of the Number 2 Mine shaft. The sound travelled far and wide and the plume of smoke acted like a beacon to everyone who had anything to do with the mine. Before long a multitude of people started arriving at the scene. It became obvious that a massive explosion had taken place deep within the mine and that help was needed.
George and his men were called to take action.
They arrived and, wearing their clothing and masks to protect them from the accumulation of gasses that could be deadly, they attempted to enter the mine shaft. It was known that 427 men were inside the mine when the explosion occurred, but the Proto Team were unable to gain access through the shaft as it had collapsed from the explosion.
They managed to get in through a secondary entrance and slowly made their way into the mine. After a while they came upon a miner, sitting silently at the conveyor belt, but as they approached, they could see that he was no longer alive. Further along they found three other men, all just sitting as tho they were waiting for coal to come on the belts, but they too, were dead. The level of Methane and CO2 was so high at that point, that had the rescuers not had their masks on, they would have not been able to breath. Death for these few was instantaneous.
As George related these events I was horrified. He told me that this disaster was headlined around the world, but I had not heard of it at all. Apparently Proto Teams were sent to Wankie from everywhere to try to free the workers. The women from the town were all congregated at the head of the shaft, ululating as only the African Women can. The sorrow and devastation was palpable and heart wrenching to hear.
Sadly, the story did not have a happy ending.
Ā None of the miners who were working that day were able to be saved. A few of the bodies that they were able to reach, were too burnt to be able to identify, and eventually, a day later, the mine manager made the awful decision to seal the mine shaft with all the bodies still inside.
Like in the case of the 9/11 Twin Towers catastrophe, there were stories of how some people should have been working on that day, but due to unforeseen circumstances, were not at work, while others that should have been on the surface, had gone underground for the first time ever, and had not lived.
After George left I went onto the Facebook page that he had told me about in which people write each year when the annual anniversary comes around. It is heart wrenching to read what an impact this event had on so many people.
As mentioned at the beginning of the Blog, we know nothing of the lives around us. Perhaps there is a lesson here to be more attentive to those we know, to show more of an interest in their lives and learn by listening, instead of talking.
If you had all heard about this disaster before, I apologise for rehashing it, but I hope it was of interest.
