South Africa is a country on the most southerly tip of Africa.
About 8, 469 km to the west of Mzansi lies Chile, which is on the southern most part of South America but the similarities end there.
The rest is an endless list of differences between the two.
South Africa is the richest country in Africa, and for a long time it was the biggest producer of gold in the world. This means that it has the capability to rescue miners at any depth.
Chile, on the other hand, has the third largest economy in South America. But it’s nowhere near Mzansi in terms of sophistication and wealth.
Both countries have experienced tragedies of a similar nature.
It’s the way those tragedies were handled that sets them apart.
In 2010, 33 miners were trapped in a collapsed mine in Copiapo, Chile.
The government of Chile under then President Sebastian Pinera led the rescue operation of the miners who had been trapped 700 metres underground for 69 days in a dramatic operation that was televised worldwide.
South African company Murray and Roberts was one of the first to respond to Chile’s call for help in saving the men known as “los 33”.
South Africa experienced a similar tragedy in February last year, when three miners were left to die at a depth 10 times less than the 700 metres in Chile.
With the rescue expertise available in this country, why has no one offered to retrieve the bodies of those miners??
Gram Chigura, Hillbrow
