Barberton - No audio signals have been received in the past 20 hours from mineworkers still trapped at the Lily Mine in Barberton, Mpumalanga.
Day six of the rescue operation to retrieve three remaining mineworkers stuck underground was under way on Wednesday morning, with hopes slowly fading of finding them alive as they haven't had any food or water in the past five days.
According to Amcu Mpumalanga regional secretary, John Sibiya, the situation has been the same since Tuesday, with no communication between the trapped miners and rescue workers.
Hopes rose on Monday when it was revealed that tapping had been heard from where the missing miners are believed to be trapped.
Two women, Yvonne Mnisi and Pretty Mabuza, and one man, Solomon Nyarenda, remain trapped in a metal container underground. The three were in the lamp room, which was housed in the container, when a central pillar of ore, called a crown pillar, collapsed on Friday. The container was swallowed up in a sinkhole as big as a rugby field.
Seventy-six miners were rescued.
Dynamite will be used to remove heavy rocks blocking the path of rescue workers.