National
13 miners trapped underground, 10 unaccounted for─── 09:35 Fri, 04 May 2018
Thirteen miners are trapped underground at Sibanye-Stillwater’s Masakhane mine on the West Rand, Johannesburg, after a seismic event on Thursday afternoon.
The seismic event, which occurred at about 13:30, caused a fall of ground in an operating stope, according to a statement by the mining company.
"Mine rescue teams were immediately mobilised and three employees have been located and have been interacting with the rescue teams," the statement reads.
The remaining 10 miners are unaccounted for and rescue efforts are continuing.
"All efforts are being made to locate the 10 employees who remain unaccounted for, and safely recover all the affected employees."
In early February 995 miners were trapped following an electric cable outage at the Sibanye Gold mine in Welkom.
All the miners resurfaced with "cases of dehydration and high blood pressure but nothing serious," spokesperson James Wellsted said at the time.
A week later at the Kloof Ikamva shaft, two mine workers were found dead after a fall of ground caused by a seismic event.
The following week a mine worker died at the Sibanye-Stillwater’s Masakhane shaft when a box of gold ore crushed him to death.
News24
