No fewer than six people have been confirmed dead while about 15 others are still trapped, after a mine shaft collapsed in Zimbabwe, Africa Today News, New York has learnt.
The collapse of Bay Horse gold mine in Chegutu, 100km (62 miles) west of the capital Harare this morning left more than 30 people trapped.
About thirteen miners are said to have escaped or been rescued by rescuers.
Efforts to reach those who remain underground are ongoing, television channel ZBC reported. It is not known what caused the collapse.
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The Zimbabwe Miners Federation said its secretary general and the Chegutu Miners Association chairman would go to the site to try to establish what happened.
Mining accidents in Zimbabwe – which sits on vast reserves of gold, platinum and diamonds – are not uncommon. Mining methods are often rudimentary and safety standards are largely disregarded.
Africa Today News, New York n 2019, dozens of miners drowned after heavy rain flooded the Silver Moon and Cricket mines near the town of Kadoma in the centre of the country.
In another report, General Mark Milley, yesterday vacated his role as the highest-ranking military official in the United States, departing with a final comment aimed at his former commander-in-chief, Donald Trump, emphasising that soldiers do not pledge loyalty to a ‘wannabe dictator’.
The forceful critique delivered by General Mark Milley on his final day as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff served as a stark reminder of how the US military was thrust into the intensifying political fray during the Trump era.
During an intricate military ceremony marking his departure, which was graced by the presence of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and President Joe Biden, General Milley refrained from explicitly mentioning Trump, but there was no ambiguity regarding the focus of his indirect criticism.
‘We don’t take an oath to a king, or queen, or a tyrant or a dictator,’ Milley said of American soldiers. ‘And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.’
General Milley’s successor as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will be Air Force General Charles “CQ” Brown, only the second African American to assume the highest military position.