Nine killed in S.Africa gold mine accident
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) — Nine miners were killed on Thursday when their lift cage plummeted down a shaft at a South African gold mine owned by Gold Fields, the country's inspector of mines said in a statement.
The accident happened when a cable carrying the lift snapped and the cage fell down two levels at the South Deep Mines near Randfontein in the northeastern province of Gauteng, said inspector Thabo Gazi.
Jaco Klenhams, a spokesman for the trade union Solidarity, said in a statement: "This was apparently due to the cage cable that snapped."
"The union also implores Gold Fields to take all necessary steps to put the current accidents to an immediate end," the statement said.
Gold Fields chief executive Nick Holland said all operations had been suspended at the South Deep mine where the accident took place, as well as two other mines in the area, Kloof and Driefontein, pending checks on the cables.
"If we can't mine safely, we won't mine at all," Holland was quoted by SAPA news agency as saying at the site of the accident.
"We are deeply shocked by this terrible accident," Holland said in a separate statement.
Three mine workers were killed and two others were seriously injured in an accident at the same mine on Wednesday.
Around 200 people are killed in South Africa's mines every year.
