Breaking News: 3,200 trapped in SA mine

[BB1]

Source: reuters

3,200 miners trapped underground at S.African mine after accident 4:53pm EDT

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL0343276320071003

[TheDebbieDee]

1. OMG! Hopefully that number will be revised downward..........

Maybe they do a better job of maintaining their mines in S. Africa and there will be no additional collapses.

[BB1]

2. hope so too.

have no link yet, only Reuters is reporting this so far. No SA newssites, not the BBC.

[MnFats]

13. dupe sorry

[Kittycat]

3. Maybe we could do the same?

We don't have that great of a track record either.

[robinlynne]

11. a better job? Mining is the lowest paying job in the city, according to

aids research documentaries about johannesburg. most of the husbands with aids went to joahnnesburg from small towns and became miners.

[gateley]

16. Yeah. Unfortunately I think the mining conditions in Africa are among the

worst in the world. Heartbreaking.

[robinlynne]

30. They are all alive! and being saved. I'll eat my words.

[gateley]

34. And I'll bet you'll eat them joyfully! Such good news -- thanks!! nt

[Az_lefty]

4. 3200??? Good Lord!

:cry:

[FVZA_Colonel]

17. When I heard that on the radio I thought I had misheard the actual figure.

I mean... 3200. Dear God, I hope they get them out soon.

[rfranklin]

25. Thank God it's only black Africans, not white Christians!

Just a bunch of kaffirs.

[RantinRavin]

41. So tell us

Have you been a racist all your life, or have you been taking lessons ?

[TheWraith]

5. For the record, it's a gold mine, according to MSNBC email. NT

[BB1]

7. you're right,

I found a link now.

[jwirr]

32. Anyone know who owns this gold mine?

[TheWraith]

38. It's Harmony Gold. Largest gold mining co. in SA, 6th largest worldwide.

They also have operations in Australia, Canada, and Papua New Guinea. Annual revenue about US$1.2 billion. Supposed to have a total of around 48,000 employees.

[Az_lefty]

6. electrical cable for lift snapped...not a cave in

http://uk.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUKL0343276320071003

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. That explains the number of workers

Hopefully they can get the cable fixed and get them out of there.

[Lucinda]

9. Thanks for the heads-up and the link!

[BB1]

10. no problem

SA has my attention. My friends in Jo'burg don't know any details yet. But its night here, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow. Hope I don't dream of falling...

[eppur_se_muova]

12. Now at BBC ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7027122.stm

The 2.2km (1.4mile) shaft was blocked near the bottom, trapping the workers.

Rescuers are trying to use an adjacent shaft to rescue the miners, a spokeswoman for the mine's owner, Harmony Gold Mining, said.

The accident happened at about 0800 GMT and there has been no communication with the miners since then, she said.

The Elandsrand mine is in the Witwatersrand Basin, which holds the world's largest gold deposit.

The mines there are among the deepest in the world.

[DavidDvorkin]

14. South Africa has enormous and very deep mines

Fortunately, they also generally have modern technology.

Some of the mines are very old, though.

[Canuckistanian]

15. Thanks for the post

Oh, and welcome to DU.
:toast:
:hi:

[Xipe Totec]

18. 3,000 workers trapped in S. Africa mine

Source: Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - About 3,000 miners were trapped underground Wednesday when a water pipe burst and probably caused a shaft to collapse in a South African gold mine, officials said.

There were no immediate reports of any injuries at Harmony Gold's Elandsrand Mine near Johannesburg. A company executive said officials have been in contact with the trapped workers and expect to rescue them over the next 24 hours.

Harmony's acting chief executive, Graham Briggs, said on MSNBC that the miners have been receiving food and water.

He said the rescuers would evacuate the miners over the next day using a small cage in another shaft, but the process would be a slow one.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071003/ap_on_re_af/south_africa_mine_3

---

Scary stuff.

[Mojambo]

19. Bill O'Reilly will probably call it a vacation for the miners. n/t

[DFW]

20. And Ann Coulter will say it's their fault for sticking around when a pipe was about to burst

[baldguy]

21. Remember the Utah mine from August?

This is what happens when there are no safety regulations - when "free-market" conservatives rule, people die.

[pdefalla]

22. What a wonderful thing for the miners

Barbara Bush: "Well, those mines are so much cleaner than the huts that the workers live in, that it really is working out quite nicely for everyone!"

[Kajsa]

23. Oh no! That's horrible.

It's terrible when one is trapped,
now 3,200?

The mine owners had no backup
lift in case of an emergency?

When will safety be a top priority
with the bigwigs in mining?

I fear for the men trapped.

;(

[TheWraith]

27. Apparently there's a backup shaft, but they can only bring up a certain number of people at a time.

Maximum of 75 was what the BBC article said. Factoring in lifting time, it would take a day or so to evac all the miners.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

24. did the import US safety officials, or something?

my gosh, my town has 17,000 people. the idea that one out of every six or so is gone ust boggles the mind.
Another way to measure it is this way. The amount of gold they have taken out of this place is less than 5% of the entire cost of our Iraqi occupation, yet, their loss of life is about equal.

one and a half miles underground, and how do they get the hell out of there?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

26. Blood Gold. nt

[ozone_man]

31. One reason why I don't own gold

or gold mining stocks. The other reason is the raping of the Earth that accompanies mining. "Blood Diamond" was very good. Changed my opinion of Leonardo DeCaprio completely.

[Hissyspit]

28. 74 of 3000 now rescued:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071004/ap_on_re_af/south_africa_mine

74 of 3,000 rescued from S. Africa mine
By MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Writer

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Rescue workers early Thursday evacuated the first 74 of about 3,000 miners trapped more than a mile underground by an accident. None of the miners were injured and the evacuation was expected to take about 10 hours.

None of the miners still trapped more than a mile underground at the Harmony Gold Elandsrand Mine were in any immediate danger, company and union officials said.

Peter Bailey, the health and safety chairman for the National Mineworkers Union, said the first 74 miners to be evacuated reached the surface shortly after 1 a.m.

"They are all doing well," said Bailey.

[Stump]

29. Sounds like...

there will be an happy ending to this. Great news!!!

[debbierlus]

33. They are being rescued & all is looking good - here is the link

http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKL0342194620071004

[cal04]

35. update:Rescuers bring 150 S.African miners to surface

Rescue teams brought the first 150 miners out of 3,200 trapped deep underground in a South African gold mine to the surface early on Thursday, mine and union officials said.

Mine owner Harmony Gold is confident all the miners will be lifted to the surface in a small elevator at the Elandsrand mine near Carletonville, southwest of Johannesburg, Chief Executive Officer Graham Briggs told Reuters.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L04671314.htm

Rescuers have now begun moving workers out through an adjacent shaft, but only 75 can be hauled clear at a time.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7027122.stm

After Thibile's group rescued, Harmony's acting chief executive Graham Briggs told The Associated Press that another 75 would be evacuated shortly, and after that they would be brought to the surface at intervals of every 25 to 30 minutes.

"It's going to take some time because we are doing it carefully," he said, adding the rescue could take 10 hours. "Nobody is injured, nobody is hurt, nothing like that at all."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071004/ap_on_re_af/south_africa_mine

[lonestarnot]

36. THANK YOU!

[cal04]

37. 450 trapped S.African miners rescued

Rescue teams brought the first 450 miners out of 3,200 trapped deep underground in a South African gold mine to the surface early on Thursday, mine and union officials said.

Mine owner Harmony Gold <HARJ.J> said the rescue operation, which brought up the first miners after a 15-hour ordeal, was going smoothly, but the powerful mining union said it suspected negligence was behind the accident that trapped the workers.

Chief Executive Officer Graham Briggs told Reuters he was confident all the miners would be lifted to the surface in a small elevator at the Elandsrand mine near Carletonville, southwest of Johannesburg.

"There have been no injuries or deaths ... It may take as long as 10 hours, the cage (lift) is travelling fairly slowly to avoid risks ... I'm very confident all will come out," Briggs said.

But the powerful National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said it suspected negligence and Harmony's practice of mining 24 hours per day caused the accident.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L04486311.htm

[BB1]

39. looks like this will end OK.

nothing to see here, move along. And keep buying our stock.

calls for a second exit in the mine arise, as well as calls for safety-exit. Apparently their exits are currently under water.

Who's doing the Barbara Bush imitations? We'd like to book you for the company.

[Maeve]

43. Update: ALL have been rescued!!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071004/tts-uk-safrica-mine-ca02f96_13.html

[calimary]

40. Welcome to DU! The situation does seem to be improving.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3016020

Glad you're here. Thanks for this. I hope it ends well.

[Kajsa]

42. WHY has this not been reported on

ABC or NBC World News?

The LA Times had nothing on this story.

Why?