“When the power goes out, my first thought is whether I will manage to get out.” This is how Ymer Meholli describes the anxiety he says he has experienced three times during his 15 years as a worker at the Stantërg Mine, near Mitrovica, which is part of the Trepça mining enterprise.
Të lidhura
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On October 7, at around 7:30 p.m., Meholli was approximately 800 meters underground, together with 62 other miners, when a breakdown cut off the electricity. The elevator stopped and, as he recounts, the ventilation system also ceased to operate.
“Stress takes over as soon as the power stops: you ask yourself whether it will come back or whether you will remain there. Then panic sets in,” the 45-year-old told Radio Free Europe.
After waiting for almost two hours, Meholli and 17 colleagues decided to climb to the surface via the emergency stairs. The journey from the 11th level took another two and a half hours.
“We all got tired; our hands and feet became cold, while some no longer had any strength,” he recalls.
In groups, 54 miners made their way out via the emergency stairs. Nine workers with physical and health difficulties remained underground until the power was restored and they were able to get out at around 2:50 a.m. on October 8.
None of them was injured, but this was not the first incident of its kind.
Four incidents and a case that remains unresolved
On January 11 of this year, five workers were trapped in the Stantërg Mine for nine hours because of problems with the electricity supply. On January 26, just two weeks later, another outage left the miners trapped for six to seven hours.
Another breakdown occurred on May 14. At that time, 47 workers were in the mine: 29 managed to get out through the emergency routes, while 18 remained underground for more than 10 hours.
After the May incident, the then acting minister of Economy, Artane Rizvanolli, announced that the causes would be investigated, as would the possibility that the breakdown could have been prevented. The Kosovo Police also confirmed that it had launched an investigation and notified the prosecutor.
Five months later, following another incident in Stantërg, it is still unknown what conclusions the investigations reached and whether measures were taken to prevent such incidents from recurring. Radio Free Europe sought answers from the Ministry of Economy but received no clarification.
The May and October breakdowns occurred in the 35-kilovolt electrical system, but it has not been confirmed whether they had the same technical cause. In both cases, the miners had to use the emergency stairs or wait for the power to return in order to leave the underground.
The Independent Trade Union of Trepça Miners views the repeated incidents as a worrying signal for safety. Its chairman, Ibrahim Jonuzi, told Radio Free Europe that the equipment is old and that the power system needs investment.
Lack of work equipment at the Trepça mine
Jonuzi warns that climbing the stairs may be impossible for some miners, particularly those with health or physical problems. According to him, the trade union is calling for a full investigation, the assignment of responsibility and immediate investment.
“We must not wait until a tragedy occurs before taking action,” the Independent Trade Union of Trepça Miners said in a public statement on October 8.
Since the war, the mine has operated without a backup line
Shyqyri Sadiku, head of the Trepça-Stantërg Mine with Flotation business unit, confirms that the electricity supply is provided through only one line. According to him, there used to be two, but after the end of the war only one remained operational. He was referring to the 1998-1999 war.
Sadiku says the enterprise has asked the Ministry of Economy to put the second line into operation, but no deadline has been set for this. He adds that a generator was also sought on the market, but no equipment capable of handling the electrical load was found.
Basri Ibrahimi, a former director of Trepça, estimates that the risk of miners being trapped during breakdowns would be reduced if the second line were put into operation or a generator with sufficient capacity for the elevator were installed. According to him, an alternative power supply is essential to prevent workers from becoming trapped in the event of breakdowns.
Who is responsible for safety?
In Kosovo, safety in mining activities is regulated by specific legislation. Law No. 05/L-062 on Safety at Work in Mining Activities, adopted in 2016, is accompanied by regulations on safety measures, equipment and the organization of rescue teams.
However, it is not known whether an assessment has been carried out in Stantërg to determine whether the ventilation, lighting, communication and evacuation systems guarantee the miners’ safety when the power is cut off.
Radio Free Europe approached the Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals, the institution that regulates and oversees mining activities, to ask whether such an assessment had been conducted. It received no response.
Requests for information sent to the Ministry of Economy and Trepça management regarding investments in the electricity network, safety measures and the activation of the backup line also went unanswered. The ministry did not clarify whether it had received the request concerning the second line or whether it had a plan to finance it.
Trepça’s assets that are “rusting away”
Trepça, one of Kosovo’s most important mining complexes, has faced technical and financial difficulties for decades. The government owns 80 percent of its shares, while 20 percent are owned by the employees.
For Meholli, power outages have consequences beyond technical problems: they also worry family members, who cannot communicate directly with the miners while they are underground.
“Of course families worry, as any family with a relative underground would,” he concludes. / RFE
