Wednesday,
Oct 3, 2007

Email Alerts

Home
Page > News >
World > Africa News > Africa
Stories

Print

Email

AIM

Digg
it

WTOP TalkBack

Policy >

Discuss this story...

0
Comments

News Video

World Headlines

U.S. Military
Deaths in Iraq at 3,809

Military
Deaths in Central Asia at 381

Iran Says
U.S. Can't Afford Another War

3,000 Workers
Trapped in S. Africa Mine

New Light
Shed on Holocaust in Ukraine

Most Viewed Stories

Racist Slogans
Written on Gallaudet Student

Entertainment
News

Woman's Body
Found on School Grounds

Autopsy: Teen
Was Shot in Back of Head

WTOP
Classifieds

3,000 Workers Trapped in S. Africa Mine
October 3, 2007 - 7:19pm

Miners work underground at the Harmony
Goldmine, near Carletonville, South Africa, in this Wednesday Oct. 27, 2004 file
photo. Some 3,000 miners were trapped underground when a water pipe burst and
probably caused a shaft to collapse Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2007, in Harmony Gold's
Elandsrand Mine near Johannesburg, South Africa's economic capital and
gold-mining center. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

By MICHELLE FAUL
Associated Press Writer

CARLETONVILLE, South Africa (AP) - Some 3,000 gold miners were trapped deep
underground Wednesday when a burst water pipe apparently damaged the elevator
shaft, but the company expected to get them out safely over the next 24 hours,
officials said.

There were no reports of injuries at Harmony Gold Mining Compay's Elandsrand
Mine outside Carletonville, located near Johannesburg.

Harmony's acting chief executive, Graham Briggs, said on MSNBC that managers
were in contact with the trapped workers and had lowered food and water to
them.

A union leader said the miners were hungry and thirsty and had been under
ground for hours, some for nearly a day. He described them as fearful and said
they were crowded together at an emergency assembly point.

Briggs said rescuers would evacuate the miners using a small cage to raise
them up another shaft, but he stressed the process would be a slow one.

"It's a case of getting a large number of people up in cages," he told MSNBC,
according to Dow Jones news service.

Briggs said the workers _ the mine's entire morning shift _ became trapped
after damage to the elevator shaft made it unsafe to use.

"Nobody was injured, but there was extensive damage to the steel work and
electrical feeder cords," Harmony Gold spokeswoman Amelia Soares told the South
African Press Association.

Soares said some miners were making their way to shafts in an adjacent mine,
owned by AngloAshanti.

Peter Bailey, national health and safety chairman for the miners union, said
the miners were "very afraid" and were hungry and thirsty after being
underground for such a long time.

"Some of these mineworkers started duty on Tuesday evening. It is now
Wednesday night and they are still underground," he said at the scene.

A spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers, Lesiba Seshoka, said
managers were meeting with union members.

"It's a terrible situation," Seshoka told The Associated Press. "The only
exit is blocked, probably by a fall of ground."

Union officials said a broken water pipe probably caused soil in the shaft to
give way.

Seshoka said it wasn't clear how deep the miners were underground, but gold
mine tunnels in South Africa are typically about 1 1/2 miles below the
service.

The union worried that the men could run short of oxygen because of collapsed
ground or be impeded by rock falls and mudslides caused the burst water
pipe.

Seshoka charged that the mine's shafts were not properly maintained. "Our
guys there tell us that they have raised concerns about the whole issue of
maintenance of shafts with the mine (managers) but they have not been attended
to," he said.

Last year, 199 mineworkers died in accidents, mostly rock falls, the
government Mine Health and Safety Council reported in
September.

(Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

By MICHELLE FAUL
Associated Press Writer

CARLETONVILLE, South Africa (AP) - Some 3,000 gold miners were trapped deep
underground Wednesday when a burst water pipe apparently damaged the elevator
shaft, but the company expected to get them out safely over the next 24 hours,
officials said.

There were no reports of injuries at Harmony Gold Mining Compay's Elandsrand
Mine outside Carletonville, located near Johannesburg.

Harmony's acting chief executive, Graham Briggs, said on MSNBC that managers
were in contact with the trapped workers and had lowered food and water to
them.

A union leader said the miners were hungry and thirsty and had been under
ground for hours, some for nearly a day. He described them as fearful and said
they were crowded together at an emergency assembly point.

Briggs said rescuers would evacuate the miners using a small cage to raise
them up another shaft, but he stressed the process would be a slow one.

"It's a case of getting a large number of people up in cages," he told MSNBC,
according to Dow Jones news service.

Briggs said the workers _ the mine's entire morning shift _ became trapped
after damage to the elevator shaft made it unsafe to use.

"Nobody was injured, but there was extensive damage to the steel work and
electrical feeder cords," Harmony Gold spokeswoman Amelia Soares told the South
African Press Association.

Soares said some miners were making their way to shafts in an adjacent mine,
owned by AngloAshanti.

Peter Bailey, national health and safety chairman for the miners union, said
the miners were "very afraid" and were hungry and thirsty after being
underground for such a long time.

"Some of these mineworkers started duty on Tuesday evening. It is now
Wednesday night and they are still underground," he said at the scene.

A spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers, Lesiba Seshoka, said
managers were meeting with union members.

"It's a terrible situation," Seshoka told The Associated Press. "The only
exit is blocked, probably by a fall of ground."

Union officials said a broken water pipe probably caused soil in the shaft to
give way.

Seshoka said it wasn't clear how deep the miners were underground, but gold
mine tunnels in South Africa are typically about 1 1/2 miles below the
service.

The union worried that the men could run short of oxygen because of collapsed
ground or be impeded by rock falls and mudslides caused the burst water
pipe.

Seshoka charged that the mine's shafts were not properly maintained. "Our
guys there tell us that they have raised concerns about the whole issue of
maintenance of shafts with the mine (managers) but they have not been attended
to," he said.

Last year, 199 mineworkers died in accidents, mostly rock falls, the
government Mine Health and Safety Council reported in
September.

(Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

< Back

Mike Causey's Federal Report
On Federal News Radio, AM 1050

mobile.WTOPNEWS
Get Text Messages and wtopnews.com on Your PDA

Contact Us
Send
us a comment or a news tip

Emergency Preparation
Is your family prepared?

Home | Site
Map | Advertise with
Us |  Contact
Us | Privacy
Statement | Terms of
Use | Copyright
Infringement
| EEO Public File
Report | Bonneville
International RSS
Feeds   Podcasts
AP
material Copyright 2007
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.