The Merriespruit tailings dam failure, 1994
On 22nd February 1994, the partial collapse of a dam (similar to the dams which collapsed in Stava) where gold mining waste was stored, destroyed the suburb of Merriespruit, killing 17 people and causing wide-scale destruction. In July 1994, the Association of the relatives of the Victims of the Stava Valley disaster placed a plaque commemorating those who died in the Merriespruit disaster in the cemetery where many victims of the Stava disaster are buried. The plaque was unveiled by the Mayor of Longarone and by the Consul of South Africa as a gesture bonding different communities hit by the