“I Drank Urine To Survive”: Miner Rescued After Eight Days Underground

A 23-year-old miner who survived eight days trapped underground after a tunnel collapse has said he stayed alive by drinking his own urine and considered eating his own excrement.

Pardon Ruvengo, an employee at Guernsey Gold Mine in Goromonzi, spoke on Monday after being discharged from a private hospital where he had been admitted for three days.

He was rescued alive, but his colleague, 21-year-old Innocent Mhere, died before help arrived.

Pardon’s younger brother, 18-year-old Kudakwashe Junior, escaped the collapse.

“I believe God has a reason for giving me another chance to live,” Pardon said.

He said he lost all sense of time in the collapsed shaft and could not tell day from night.

With no food or clean water, he and Mhere collected urine in a small container and drank it to survive.

“I watched my friend die beside me,” he said. “At one point, I was about to eat my faeces to survive.”

He described having vivid dreams in which he saw relatives and colleagues discussing how to rescue him.

Hospital staff celebrated his survival, with some posing for photographs as he was discharged.

In Munorwei Village under Chief Bota in Zaka, villagers have been gathering at the Ruvengo homestead, struggling to believe he is alive.

His father, 47-year-old Kudakwashe Ruvengo, said everyone in the village was still struggling to believe that Pardon was alive.

He added that Pardon’s mother, who had been emotionally distressed, regained her strength after speaking to him during his treatment.

He said some villagers were still gathered at their homestead waiting to see Pardon for themselves, describing his survival as an act of God.

Kudakwashe said the family was told about the accident by Pardon’s younger brother, who escaped the tunnel moments before it collapsed.

The teenager had joined his brother at the mine to raise money to continue his education after passing his Ordinary Level examinations.

Ruvengo, the eldest of five children and an active member of ZCC Mbungo Church, does not plan to return to mining. He intends to get a driver’s licence and train to operate earth-moving machinery.

“I want to thank God, my colleagues, friends, relatives, and the staff at Pacific 24‑Hour Hospital for being used by the Creator for my survival,” he said.

More: H-Metro