Rescue efforts are underway in South Africa to finish bringing 260 or so workers stuck in a gold mine for a day back to the surface, with dozens already rescued, the Sibanye-Stillwater mining company said on Friday. According to the company, an initial investigation showed that a sub-shaft rock winder skip door opened at the loading point on Thursday and caused some damage to the mine shaft at the Kloof mine, west of Johannesburg, per the AP. "Following a detailed risk assessment, 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 at this time," the company said in a statement.
Sibanye says that all of the miners have been assembled together in one area in the mine and are safe, with food available to hold them over until they're rescued, per Reuters. In fact, the company insists to ABC News that the workers "are not trapped." Reuters also reports that, as of Friday afternoon, 79 miners had been brought to the surface, with rescue efforts continuing for the others. A reporter from that outlet spotted some of the rescued miners "looking tired but in good health" as they walked over to board buses to leave the mine.
The National Union of Mineworkers, which represents workers at the Kloof mine, one of the mining company's deepest at 2 miles, says it's worried over the company repeatedly changing the estimated time for the miners to return to the surface. "We are very concerned, because the mine did not even make this incident public until we reported it to the media," said NUM spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu, per the AP. "I haven't slept a wink," the wife of one of the still-stuck miners tells Reuters. "I just want my husband out alive." The company said that it expected all of the miners to be hoisted back to the surface by later Friday. (More South Africa stories.)
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