Rescue begins for 3,000 miners

Rescuers began bringing gold miners back to the surface today after about 3,000 were trapped a mile underground when pipes fell down an elevator shaft Wednesday and caused extensive damage to the steel framework and electrical cables.

There were no injuries and there was no immediate danger to any of the workers in Harmony Gold Mining Co.’s Elandsrand Mine, company and union officials said. The company estimated that it would take 10 hours to get everyone out through a smaller shaft. About 1,200 miners had been pulled to safety, the company said.

Peter Bailey, health and safety chairman for the National Union of Mineworkers, said the first men to reach the surface were “all doing well.”

Sethiri Thibile, one of the first miners rescued, clutched a sandwich and a bottle of water he was given when he emerged.

“I was hungry, though we were all hungry,” said Thibile, 32, an engineering assistant who had been underground about 20 hours.

“Most of the people are scared,” he said.

Deon Boqwana, regional chairman for the union, said there was ventilation for the miners waiting below ground and officials were in contact with the men by telephone.

Boqwana said the smaller cage being used can carry about 75 miners at a time. He said it normally takes three minutes to reach the surface but would be slower because rescuers were taking extra precautions.