Bus with rescuers buried in collapsed gold mine still not found
Search and rescue operation for the bus with rescuers which plunged into the collapsed gold mine of JSC Maikainzoloto in Pavlodar region is still underway. Almost 40,000 tons of soil and rock have been disposed from the accident site. After additional geoscanning, carried out today, the course of the operation will be adjusted, Kazinform News Agency reports.
The works are ongoing around the clock. The probable location of the plunged bus was detected on Monday via geoscanning at a depth of 5 meters. 37,000 tons of soil and rock were disposed. After additional geoscanning carried out today, the course of the rescue and search operation will be adjusted, local emergencies department said.
139 people and 47 vehicles are involved in the operation.
A special commission led by Deputy Chairman of the Industrial Safety Committee of the Ministry of Emergencies Mussa Tanabayev will investigate into the cause of the accident.
On the night of January 4, a bus carrying three rescuers fell under ground as rockfall occurred in the territory of JSC Maikainzoloto. The rockfall depth is about 150 meters, its length is 150-200 meters, and the width is about 500 meters.
JSC Maikainzoloto is a leading company in Central Kazakhstan specializing in extraction and processing of gold-bearing polymetallic ores. Founded in 1932, the company has been operating numerous small, medium and large deposits, including Small Maikain, Maikain A, B, C, D, E, F, Novoye, Naizatas, Zhussaly, Zhilandy, Nauruzbay etc.
Throughout its operation period, the company has extracted 16.7 million tons of ore, which contained 80 tons of gold, 1,240 tons of silver, 204 tons of copper, and 300 tons of zinc. More than 13 million tons of extracted ore was processed at the country’s ore-dressing plants, while the remain ore was shipped as gold-containing flux raw materials to the metallurgical plants of Ural and Kazakhstan.
