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Midlands Bureau
A 17-year-old artisanal miner drowned after he plunged into a flooded mine shaft while panning for gold on Sunday and his body is yet to be retrieved.

The now deceased Tinashe Chimbidzikai was in the company of two colleagues when they entered into a mine shaft at Olympia 7 Mine. He reportedly slipped and fell into the flooded mine.

A witness, Thomas Runya, who was in the company of the now deceased, said they worked in the same mine shaft the previous day and they did not know it was flooded when the fatal incident occurred.

“We were three including the deceased. It was now time for another shift after we knocked off the previous day while working in the same shaft, we did not know that it had flooded and the deceased was in front.

As we walked, I just heard a huge bang and I drifted back. I then peeped inside and saw the deceased’s wallet floating,” he said.

Runya said the three were contracted by the owners of Olympia 7 Mine and had over 5 tonnes of extracted ore underground when the accident occurred.

“We then rushed to report the incident to owners of the mine but they referred us to the police,” he said.

The now deceased teenager’s father, Mr Chris Chimbidzikai, said police and the Civil Protection Unit were yet to retrieve the body.He said the mine owners were not cooperative following the accident.

“Am hurt that my son has left me in such a way. It’s not anything any parent would expect, but what hurts me most is that the owners of the mine have not communicated with us since yesterday despite the fact that my child has been working for them for the past three years,” he said.

Mr Chimbidzikai said the family expects police to take action against the mine owners for compromised safety at their mine.

“Miners should always put safety first and from what happened here, it shows there was no safety at this mine and action should be taken against the mine owners,” he said.

Mr Moses Hwetse, a supervisor at Olympia 7 Mine, said the now deceased and his colleagues were conducting illegal mining activities at the mine.

“We did not authorise them to work at that mine. The deceased was not part of our team,” he said.