Mother of trapped Lily miner struggling to cope

The mother of one of the women trapped underground at Lily Mine in Mpumalanga has fallen ill due to stress, her husband Almond Mnisi told News24. Mnisi said his wife had been struggling to cope since they received a call informing them their daughter Yvonne was trapped underground. He said his wife suffered from high blood pressure and it peaked on Wednesday.

Anxious family members wait outside Lily Mine in Mpumalanga

“It’s not good. My wife is not coping at all. She is always in tears. This hurts me because there is nothing I can do. I keep telling her not to lose hope, our daughter will be found.” Mnisi said most of the family had been sleeping in a tent near the mine since Friday.


“The family is here for support. This is helping to keep us calm under this storm,” he said.

Mine collapse
Mnisi and her colleagues, Pretty Mabuza and Solomon Nyarenda, were in a lamp room that was housed in a container, near the entrance to the mine, when a central pillar of ore, called a crown pillar, collapsed on Friday. The container was swallowed up in a sinkhole as big as a rugby field.

Seventy-six miners were rescued. Mnisi said he was scared to face his two grandchildren, aged 9 and 4, should anything happen to their mother.

“I know she is alive. I have faith and we have prayed on it. I worry about her two sons. They do not know what is going on. I wouldn’t be able to face them if anything happened to my child. But I have faith,” he said.

Mnisi described 23-year-old Yvonne as a passionate woman who loved her job. “She enjoys her job and she is a lovely girl. I am very proud of her. I just want her to come back to her sons and her mother. We need her.”