Workers who died in ‘explosion’ at ArcelorMittal named

The three workers who were trapped after an explosion at ArcelorMittal’s premises in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, on Wednesday have been confirmed dead.

They were named on Thursday night as Thami Molefe, Shart Mofokeng and Mpho Madomesa.

“Their sudden deaths have left their families distraught and devastated,” the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) said on Thursday night.

According to Numsa, the explosion — “which caused a building to collapse” — happened at about 2am.

“The families have been waiting and anxiously hoping that their loved ones would be found alive, but unfortunately that was not to be,” Numsa regional secretary in Sedibeng Kabelo Ramokhathali said.

The union has called on the department of employment and labour to conduct a “thorough and detailed” investigation into the cause of the accident.

Ramokathali said on Thursday night: “We have a responsibility to the families of our fallen comrades to make sure that they did not die in vain.”

The union confirmed that a meeting was held with employment and labour minister Thulas Nxesi at ArcelorMittal after the incident.

“Workers voluntarily worked throughout the night to ensure that their bodies were recovered. Had it not been for workers volunteering to remove the fallen rock, we would probably still be searching for them even now. There is no specialised rescue team, and this is a requirement for a company the size of [ArcelorMittal] which employs over 2,500 employees, excluding contractors. We raised all these issues when we spoke to the minister,” said Ramokhathali.

He added: “We told the minister that we want an investigation, followed up by a formal inquiry into the incident. We believe very strongly that if there is evidence that the management of ArcelorMittal was negligent in any way, there must be consequences.”

ArcelorMittal SA said on Wednesday that a portion of a 90m stack at one of the operation’s coke batteries failed in the early hours of the morning, and fell onto the coke battery control room in which the three employees had been working.

The company on Thursday confirmed that the employees had succumbed to injuries sustained.

“Our heartfelt condolences and deepest sympathies go to the families and colleagues of the deceased,” said CEO Kobus Verster.

The families of the employees have been informed and are receiving the necessary support from the company, he said.

“We are extremely grateful to our own qualified emergency personnel, who arrived on site immediately after the incident occurred and worked through the day and night to complete the recovery operation with the support of local emergency services.”

The company has launched an investigation into the cause of the incident.

“All relevant authorities have been notified and have been on site. The company will co-operate fully with their investigations,” said Verster.

“The safety of our employees and contractors remains our primary concern. This is an absolute tragedy, and we will do a full and thorough investigation to understand what happened so we can avoid anything like this from happening again at ArcelorMittal SA.”

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