Durban - The three construction workers who died after being trapped inside a drain they were working on in Cape Town last week, have been identified.
Initially reports indicate that two workers were trapped and died but the company they worked for, CSV Construction has confirmed that it was three people.
Thembela Mapoyi (35), Johan Lubanka (44) and Yanga Nayo (30) were laid to rest last Wednesday during a service in the Eastern Cape, said Director Hannes Coetzee.
Mapoyi and Lubanka had been with CSV for ten years while Nayo was with them for seven.
“Each had been hardworking, loyal, highly skilled and experienced employees who had long service records with the Company.
“A memorial was held on Wednesday 19th October and families, colleagues and the community were all able to attend. The Company has supported the families with offers of counselling, funeral life benefits, pension benefits and travel to funerals in the Eastern Cape,” told IOL.
He said they were still awaiting the results of an investigation into the incident by the Department of Employment and Labour.
According to emergency services, firefighters were called out to rescue the trapped construction workers from a sewage drain in Rocklands, Mitchells Plain.
“At around 10am we received a call to go out to that area where they fell. We just received word from the teams on the ground that they are still working to get them out,” the communications team said at the time.
A firefighter who was part of the rescue mission had to be transported to hospital for medical treatment due to exposure to the sewage water.
The tragedy occurred when one of the workers went to retrieve an item that was stuck in a manhole which collapsed as he was coming out.
One of his colleagues then went in to rescue him but was overwhelmed by the fumes inside the sewage drain.
The foreman who also went in to try and rescue them, did not make it pass the fumes and had to be hospitalised after he was exposed to contamination. He was identified as Yanga Nayo,
IOL