South Africa rescues all 260 miners stuck underground alive

Rescuers  pulled out all 260 mine workers who had been stuck for more than 24 hours in an underground shaft in South Africa, the mine’s operator said. The miners were trapped underground on Thursday at the Kloof gold mine, 60 km West of Johannesburg, after a hoist used to access the shaft was damaged in an accident, the mining company Sibanye-Stillwater said.

The first phase of the rescue brought 79 people to the surface by 1.30pm while the rest were rescued six hours later, it said in a statement. At no point was there any risk of injury to employees during the incident. A decision had been made against using the emergency escape routes which would have involved the miners walking longer distances, it added.

The gold mine is one of the deepest operated by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company. Desperate relatives of the miners waited outside the site during the rescue efforts, most of them expressing shock at the incident, local television footage showed.

All affected employees will also undergo thorough medical examinations, if required, while support has also been extended to employees’ families,” the mining company said.