A formal inquest into the 2016 Lily Mine tragedy confirmed that the three miner - Pretty Nkambule, Solomon Nyirenda and Yvonne Mnisi - who were buried underground after the mine's crown pillar collapsed were dead.

FILE: Their bodies were never recovered but on the back of an inquest, the Mbombela Magistrates Court on Thursday officially found they indeed died that day, among other things. Picture: Katlego Jiyane/Eyewitness News.

JOHANNESBURG - A formal inquest into the Lily Mine disaster has now officially confirmed that the three miners who were buried some 60 metres underground that day were dead.

But some of their loved ones were still desperately clinging to the hope that they somehow survived their tragedy.

On 5 February 2016, the mine's crown pillar collapsed, swallowing a container office and three mine employees who were inside it - Pretty Nkambule, Solomon Nyirenda and Yvonne Mnisi.

Their bodies were never recovered but on the back of an inquest, the Mbombela Magistrates Court on Thursday officially found they indeed died that day, among other things.

READ: DMRE, SAPS and mine management had a hand in Lily Mine deaths, court finds

Magistrate Annemarie van der Merwe in her ruling found that the staff inside the container died immediately, with the sheer weight of the rocks and the debris that collapsed in on them causing their "instant death".

But Solomon's mother, Fiona Duduzile Nyirenda, still believed her son could have, somehow, survived.

Sifiso Mavuso, Pretty's younger brother, shares a similar sentiment.

"Under normal circumstances, you might find that those people are dead by now but with the grace of God we might find that these people are still alive, even though other people might say what I'm saying is totally wrong. Personally, I believe so because what's impossible to us as human beings, to God is possible."

Either way, Mavuso said all they wanted now was for their loved ones to be brought to the surface.

"Dead or alive - that is what we want so that we can get closure as the families."