Three workers who had been trapped under the rubble after a huge stack collapsed on a coke battery control room at South Africa's steel mill were found dead on Thursday, company ArcelorMittal South Africa confirmed
JOHANNESBURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th February, 2021) Three workers who had been trapped under the rubble after a huge stack collapsed on a coke battery control room at South Africa's steel mill were found dead on Thursday, company ArcelorMittal South Africa confirmed.
On Wednesday, the South Africa's largest steel maker said that three workers were missing after the accident at the plant in the city of Vanderbijlpark.
"ArcelorMittal South Africa regrets to confirm that the bodies of its three missing employees have now all been recovered," it said in an update.
The National Union of Metalworkers South Africa (NUMSA) described the news as "devastating" and extended condolences to the families of the victims.
"They have been waiting anxiously hoping that their loved ones would be found alive. Unfortunately that was not to be. We send our deepest condolences to the family and friends of those who have passed away," NUMSA said.
The union called on the department of employment and labour to launch a thorough investigation into the cause of the accident. It noted that it had had a long painful history with ArcelorMittal and its management, which previously dismissed a NUMSA shop steward for exposing poor health safety protocols in the company.
NUMSA spokeswoman Phakamile Hlubi-Majola told Sputnik that the union would like to thank those who had been working tirelessly throughout the day on Wednesday to ensure that the bodies were found.
"We are convinced that had it not been for the intense efforts of workers themselves who volunteered and risked their own lives and took the initiative searching through the massive piles of the rubble to locate workers trapped under the building, we would not had discovered the bodies," Hlubi-Majola said.
The steel maker also expressed its heartfelt condolences and pledged assistance to the families of the victims and vows to conduct a "full investigation."
