[3] The disaster occurred at 8:30 pm when a 12-ton underground locomotive operating at level 56 of the mine, 1,676 metres (5,500 ft) below the surface, entered the wrong tunnel and went out of control.
The locomotive and carriage crashed through a safety barrier intended for much smaller equipment, and fell into the Number 2 mine shaft.
At the time, a double-storey elevator cage was ascending the shaft from level 62 1,859 m (6,100 ft) below the surface, packed to its full capacity of over 100 miners who had completed their shift.
[8] President Nelson Mandela declared a national day of mourning, and 45 of the victims were buried in a mass funeral a month later.
[10] The investigation blamed the accident on several failures of safety systems that should have prevented the locomotive from running away and from falling into the shaft.
[11] The report found that the mine had not implemented urgent safety measures recommended after a similar but non-fatal incident three years before.
[13][14] The report recommended that the Vaal Reefs Exploration and Mining Company (a subsidiary of Anglo American), should be prosecuted for culpable homicide.
[10] The disaster came shortly before the conclusion of the Leon Commission, a major judicial inquiry into health and safety on South Africa's mines.