South Africa's Chile heroes expected back tomorrow
Solidarity to bestow awards on heroes
Four of the five Solidarity members who operated Murray & Roberts' Strata 950 drill during the rescue effort to free 33 trapped Chilean mineworkers, will receive the trade union's Stars in the Community award at the OR Tambo Airport tomorrow morning. The rescue effort lasted almost two-and-a-half months. Wynand Botes, Riaan Viviers, Mario Scholtz and Johan Badenhorst, all employees of Murray & Roberts Cementation, are scheduled to arrive on flight 227 from Buenos Aires tomorrow at around 08:30. The fifth member, Christo Esterhuizen, will not be returning to South Africa immediately, but will also receive an award.
According to Dirk Hermann, deputy general secretary of Solidarity, the success of the rescue effort was largely due to the swift response and expertise of the South African team. "Thanks to the team's heroic actions and perseverance, the 33 mineworkers were rescued in record time," said Hermann. "They are the pride of Solidarity and the whole South Africa and Stars in the Community awards will therefore be bestowed on them tomorrow," according to Hermann.
"The Murray & Roberts team not only hastened to the scene directly after the accident occurred to offer assistance, but also drilled the circulation tunnels that were used to send food, water and other supplies down to the mineworkers with the help of their Chilean company, Terracem. In addition, their colleagues in South Africa proposed the design for the rescue capsule here in South Africa. Murray & Roberts' engineers in South Africa did all the calculations that were necessary to carry out the rescue effort, which included determining the width of the shaft and the capacity of the crane," he added.
Solidarity bestows Stars in the Community awards on people who have made an outstanding contribution to the South African community.
The media are invited to attend this event:
Date: Saturday, 22 October 2010
Time: 08:30
Place: OR Tambo Airport
RSVP: [email protected]
Statement issued by Dirk Hermann, deputy general secretary of Solidarity, October 22 2010
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