955 Workers Rescued from South Africa Gold Mine
2, 2018
JOHANNESBURG — Nearly 1,000 miners who were trapped in a South African mine for more than 24
hours after a power outage have been safely evacuated, company officials said on Friday.
The Sibanye-Stillwater company, which manages the Beatrix gold mine in Free State Province, said
that the miners would be subjected to medical tests and counseling.
Unions for mine workers expressed concern that there was no functioning backup plan for evacuation after a storm knocked out power Wednesday night.
They also said that the episode underscored long-running problems with safety
and oversight at South Africa’s mines, where workers at some sites operate at depths of more than two miles below the surface.
Food and water were delivered to the trapped miners while they waited for power to be restored so that elevators could ferry them to the surface.