South Africa mine blaze leaves nine missing

A blaze at a mine near the South African city of Johannesburg has left at least nine gold miners missing deep underground, officials say.

The incident took place west of Johannesburg late on Tuesday after the fire broke out about 1.7 kilometers (over one mile) beneath the surface at Harmony Gold’s Doornkop mine.

South African emergency workers battled smoke and rockfall on Wednesday and rescued eight of the 17 workers initially trapped by the blaze.

“Rescue services found eight people this morning in a refuge chamber. They have since alighted to surface and they are healthy,” company’s CEO Graham Briggs said.

He added that nine workers were still missing, adding that the search operation will continue until they are found.

“We have about eight rescue teams underground,” Briggs said.

Noting that the rescue effort was being hampered by “smoke and a subsequent fall of ground,” he added that half of rescue workers “are fighting the fire, the other half are trying to do recces (reconnaissance) and get into some of these areas.”

The National Union of Mineworkers said the fire broke out following the collapse of underground rocks which “caused damage to ventilation pipes, electric cables and water pipes.”

“The damage to electric cables triggered a fire underground which is still burning,” said the union’s health and safety official, Erick Gcilitshana.

Mine accidents are common in South Africa’s ultra-deep gold mines. At least 128 people were killed in mine incidents in 2010.

At least 82 miners also died in an underground fire at a Harmony mine in 2009.