3 000 workers trapped in mine

2007-10-03 22:53

Johannesburg - More than 3 000 mineworkers spent more than 11 hours trapped underground in the Elandsrand mine, near Carletonville, on Wednesday after a falling pipe column cut the power to the lift used to hoist them to the surface.

"Nobody was injured, but there was extensive damage to the steel work and electrical feeder cords," said Harmony Gold spokesperson Amelia Soares.

Workers above ground were trying to reconfigure a second cage - usually used to carry waste - to rescue the trapped workers.

While it was expected the lift would be working in two hours, the rescue operation itself would "take quite a while" as the cage could bring only 300 workers to the surface every half hour, she said.

Mine management was in constant contact with the workers, who had access to water and adequate ventilation, said Soares.

Their families were being kept informed of developments via a special control room at the mine.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said the mine workers had been trapped since 10:00.

It was only after 21:00 that news of the incident surfaced.

There was no emergency exit in the shaft, which had "not been maintained for ages", NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka charged in a statement issued on Wednesday night.

However, Soares said there were other outlets for workers, some of whom were making their way to shafts in an adjacent AngloAshanti mine.

She said 3 200 miners were trapped when a 15m section of a compressed pipe column broke - because of fatigue - just below the shaft surface bank and fell to the bottom of the shaft used to carry men and materials.

Explaining why so many people were trapped underground, Soares said the company had purchased an old mine and extended the shaft downwards.

This meant there were not only people working on the old mine, but workers busy on the new "project" below it, and which was scheduled for commissioning in two years.

- SAPA