KIMBERLEY - All operations at the Ekapa Minerals Joint Shaft Mine in Kimberley have been suspended.
The immediate priority now remains on the intensive 24-hour rescue operation aimed at locating and bringing to safety the five mine employees who are still unaccounted for.
This is according to the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources and the Northern Cape provincial government following an oversite visit at the mine.
Mineworkers were trapped after a mudslide at the Kimberley mine on 17 February prompting a visit lead by the Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe.
READ | Mining safety under scrutiny as five remain trapped at Ekapa
According to Mantashe, it is still early days to speculate on the cause of the incident.
However, he assures the public that there will be a thorough investigation conducted to establish all the facts surrounding the accident.
“The findings of that investigation will inform our decisions and any necessary interventions going forward,” the minister said.
Rescue teams say rising water levels and difficult drilling conditions are making their search and rescue mission near-impossible.
Mantashe has presumed the miners dead given the lengthy period they have been trapped underground.
"The possibility of life is minimal."
He said the chief investigator of mines will launch an investigation to detect the source of the water once the bodies have been retrieved.