After thirty-nine days of research in the bowels of the zinc mine, the so-frozen verdict fell: four of the eight missing miners were found dead.
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For a month, families have been praying for a miracle, seated under a sheet metal shelter, next to the High Commissioner of Réo, in the center-west of Burkina Faso. But on the night of Tuesday, May 24, after 39 days of research in the bowels of the Perkoa zinc mine, the dreaded verdict fell. Four of the eight missing miners were found dead. The bodies are being identified. “It is very difficult because we hoped to find them alive. We continue to pray for the other four,” blows Antoine Bama, the brother of one of the victims.
On April 16, eight miners – six Burkinabés, a Tanzanian and a Zambian – were trapped in the galleries suddenly flooded by torrential rains. Water has cut the electrical system and radio communications with the interior of the mine. On May 17, after weeks of pumping, the rescue teams were able to access a refuge chamber, 580 meters deep, without finding their trace.
In Burkina Faso, where the mining sector has played an increasing role for more than a decade, the controversy swells around the circumstances of Perkoa’s drama. The Burkinabé government has announced the opening of an investigation and “protective measures” to prevent site officials from leaving the territory. Families also filed a complaint “against X” for “attempted manslaughter”, “endangering the life of others” and “non-assistance to person in danger”.
On the morning of April 16, Mathieu Bationo worked inside the mine when water torrents arose. He manages to escape by borrowing the emergency stairs, but eight of his colleagues are missing. He just has time to exchange a few words with them on the phone, before the communication is cut.
“Waders of water in the pit”
“They told me that they could not reach the refuge room. One of the mining was downright at the bottom, the current took his machine and he took refuge in a gallery, but he was too far away outcome, “he reports, still in shock.
Outside, the rain had a dike of protecting a career dug in the rock, next to the underground mine. “Warm of water spilled into the pit. We realized that they infiltrated to the interior of the galleries,” reports an employee, under the cover of anonymity.
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