Magayane says that he thinks that fatalities due to mining accidents are reported, but easily agrees that the statistics for injuries are probably inaccurate. Magayane is surprisingly frank as he explains that the official and unofficial numbers for the mine deaths differ dramatically. For example, he says that in 1999 there were nine fatalities due to accidents in the mines, and that last year there were 71. In 2001, so far, the 10 miners killed in January are the extent of the official count. Air problems are the miners' biggest safety worry.
Fights are another big threat.
Thirty-three people died in fights last year. The most dangerous brawls break out underground, when one group's dynamite blasts into another's territory. Miners and bosses alike say that the mania to find tanzanite stones makes miners especially aggressive towards each other and defensive of their territory. While one boss reports that the miners are organised into committees to adjudicate fights and deal with problems below the ground, others laugh when asked to confirm this. Myriad miners die from a wide and miserable array of causes.