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Mererani: JK orders 3 days of rescue work
2008-04-01 09:09:02
By Adam Ihucha ,Mererani
President Jakaya Kikwete yesterday toured the Mererani tanzanite mining site in Simanjiro District, where at least 67 small-scale miners are still trapped in flooded pits.
He made the visit as volunteers helping in the on-going search and rescue operation complained about low payment and lack of food.
Reports from the scene of the weekend tragedy, blamed on flash floods, say hope was fast fading of finding the trapped miners still alive.
Abubakar Madiwa, assistant secretary of the gemstone association in the area, said most volunteers were unhappy with the 10,000/- the government pays them for each body recovered.
``The volunteers, most of them small-scale miners themselves, want 40,000/- for each body recovered,` said Madiwa, noting that an `underground wrangle` between them and the government was slowing the search and rescue operation.
Another leader of miners association, Stella Shayo, said food supplies were limited and most volunteers were working under difficult conditions and went without food for long hours.
President Kikwete, who rushed to Mererani after chairing crucial CCM meetings in Musoma and at Butiama in Mara Region, directed the authorities coordinating rescue operations to complete the task in three days.
He issued the directive at the scene, where at least 166 small-scale tanzanite miners were hit by flood waters on Saturday following the on-going long rains.
A total of 93 out of these have since been pulled to safety and six bodies had been recovered by yesterday afternoon.
``We are shocked and saddened by what has happened but lives of other miners and people must go on. Mining activities need to continue after a while,`` said the President, when addressing a hushed meeting at the scene.
Cabinet ministers William Ngeleja (Energy and Minerals), Philip Marmo (Prime Minister’s Office - Policy, Coordination and Parliament Affairs) and Lawrence Masha (Home Affairs) were among top government authorities coordinating the rescue operations.
President Kikwete also directed minister Ngeleja and Manyara Regional Commissioner Henry Shekifu to monitor the search, rescue and other operations closely and ensure that mining activities resume as directed.
He said the government would employ whatever means possible to recover the bodies of the miners still trapped underground and all presumed dead.
``We will make sure that enough of the requisite equipment and facilities for use in pulling out the dozens of miners still in the pits are made available,`` explained the President.
Simanjiro legislator Christopher ole Sendeka said they were still working to see how to recover more bodies, adding that he no longer saw any hope of finding anyone still alive.
Meanwhile, witnesses said the scene of the flooded mine smelled of decomposing bodies and volunteer rescuers complained of lack of basic protective gear like face masks and gloves.
``Yesterday when we went down, we reached a place where we found bodies rotting. The situation down there is really bad, our stomachs were swelling because of the smell,`` Samuel Chacha, a mine worker, said.
The government suspended all mining activities in the area indefinitely on Sunday following the disaster.
Several people including MPs, businesspersons and private companies and institutions have contributed funds towards the rescue operations. Those who have come up with assistance include IPP Executive Chairman Reginald (25m/-), legislator ole Sendeka (1m/-) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (600,000/-).
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