Families of missing Lily Mine workers losing hope
The father of one of the workers who remain trapped underground at an Lily Mine says they have lost all hope of finding them alive.
The container office which Solomon Nyerende, Yvonne Mnisi and Pretty Nkambule had been in, fell into a shaft from the surface at Lily mine following a collapse on February 5.
About 80 miners who had been working underground at the time of the cave in were all rescued within hours.
Rescue operations at the mine where halted on Saturday after some of the rock face collapsed.
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Mine management went underground yesterday to assess the stability of the shaft before rescue operations can resume. Despite the time passed, mine management and union Amcu have maintained that this was still a search and rescue operation not a recovery.
But Kennedy Nyerende disagrees.
"We have lost hope now, we are now talking about bones not bodies," he said.
There's set to be a briefing later today to update media on the future of the rescue mission.
(Photo: Jacaranda News)