3,000 workers trapped in mine
A water pipe burst and soil in an underground shaft probably collapsed, trapping about 3,000 workers in a gold mine near Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic capital and gold-mining centre, the workers’ union said.
It was not immediately possible to get comment from the management of Harmony Gold’s Elandsrand Mine in Carletonville, nor details, such about how deep down the shaft is.
The spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers, Lesiba Seshoka, said the managers were meeting with union members.
Miners had gone down the shaft, then the water pipe burst, and they had not been heard from since about 10am (0900 GMT), he said.
“It’s a terrible situation,” Seshoka said. “The only exit is blocked, probably by a fall of ground.”
Gold mine shafts in South Africa are typically 3,000 meters below ground or more, he said.
The union feared the men could be trapped without oxygen because of collapsed ground, or impeded by rock falls and mud slides by the burst water pipe.
Seshoka charged the shafts had not been 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.
