FAMILY LOST
3 Houses Engulfed
(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) BLYVOORUITZICHT, (Transvaal), Aug. 3,
A miner and his family are presumed to have died when their house was engulfed early today by a cave-in at the Blyvooruitzicht goldmine.
Their home and two others are covered with earth in a circular hole about 200 yards in diameter. One house was unoccupied and the occupants of the third, es-
caped. The families in about 20 more homes in the mining town, about 45 miles west of Johannesburg, fled in their night-clothes after being awakened by “rumbling noises.” Those feared lost are 36-year-old Johannes Oosthuizen, his 34-year-old wife, Hester, and their three children— Jacoba, aged 12, Johannes, aged 8, and Mariaan, aged 5. CAVE-IN CAUSE A senior Mines Department geologist said the cave-in seemed to be similar to that which swallowed a threestorey crushing mill and killed 34 Africans at the adjacent West Driefontein gold mine, the world’s richest, in December, 1962. The area has underground dolomite rock containing calcium carbonate.
This dissolves in water, leaving a honeycomb of subterranean cavities which are filled by loose formations above them and set up a chain reaction of cave-ins.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30511, 5 August 1964, Page 6
Word Count
191FAMILY LOST Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30511, 5 August 1964, Page 6
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