Sibanye working to rescue 260 trapped in gold mine after shaft accident

Mining company Sibanye-Stillwater said on Friday rescue efforts are under way for 260 mineworkers trapped underground at its Kloof gold mine near Carletonville, Johannesburg.

“We confirm we had an incident at Kloof 7 shaft and are making safe and shaft examination procedures, whereafter we will hoist the employees to the surface,” a spokesperson for Sibanye told Reuters.

All workers are safe and accounted for and the company was providing them with food.

The National Union of Mineworkers said the accident had taken place at about 10pm on Thursday.

“They have been underground for almost 20 hours,” union spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu told TimesLIVE earlier on Friday morning, saying they did not have confirmation that the trapped miners had access to food and water.

Sibanye said in a statement: "Initial investigations show that the Kloof 7 sub-shaft rock winder skip door opened at the loading point on level 39, impacting levels 40 and 41 below this point. The open door of the skip caused some damage at level 35, and the work to make this safe has been completed."

After a risk assessment, the company said it was decided that employees should remain at the sub-shaft station "until it is safe to proceed to the surface, in order to avoid walking long distances."

"It is estimated that all affected employees will be brought to surface around midday."

- It was previously reported that 289 miners were trapped underground. This article has been revised with the number of 260, provided by the company.

This is a developing story

Reuters and TimesLIVE