Burkina Faso: Families still hopeful workers will be found alive after mine collapse in April
"Burkina Faso trapped miners: Family has hope after three weeks", 10 May 2022
The family of one of eight miners trapped by flood waters in a zinc mine in Burkina Faso is still hopeful the workers will be found alive. "It's been three weeks of sleepless nights for all of us," a cousin of one of the trapped men told the BBC. There has been no contact with them since they were caught by flash floods last month.
It is not known if those working more than 520m (1,706ft) below ground reached two available refuge chambers...
Trevali Mining says 32 million litres of water have so far been pumped out of the mine, allowing rescue workers to reach 550m below ground. This is 30m below where the water settled after the heavy thunderstorm on 16 April that cut off electricity and communications. In less than an hour, 125mm of rain fell - five times the average monthly amount.
"We are hopeful, yet angry at the same time," said Yakouba Bama, whose cousin Charles Bama is one six of Burkinabès missing, along with one worker from Tanzania and another from Zambia.
The case has caused outrage in Burkina Faso as rescue operations only got under way following protests and a sit-in at a government building at a nearby town five days after the floods.
"We don't know if there's enough oxygen for them and no-one is supplying them with food," the cousin said about the family's concerns...