3,200 Miners Stuck Underground ( South Africa)

sky news ^

[maquiladora]

Thousands Trapped In SA Gold Mine Updated: 21:39, Wednesday October 03, 2007

Three thousand workers are trapped in a gold mine near Johannesburg, in South Africa. More follows...

[Abathar]

A mile down? Unfortunately dwelling on that won’t let me get to sleep tonight...

[knittnmom]

I’ll be praying for them.

[RightWhale]

Unbelieveable that many down in the mine. Will any make it out?

[griffin]

prayers up....

[LdSentinal]

Oh no.

Prayers for a quick rescue.

[Spktyr]

It’s not due to a collapse, it’s just that the “elevator” is broken and they have to reconfigure another “elevator” to allow them to exit safely. Nobody’s beem hurt, they just can’t get out.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

(AP) Johannesburg, South Africa. A truck loaded with food preparing to dump its
load down a mine shaft to 3,200 miners trapped below.

[stevio]

God be with them.

[txhurl]

But their umbilical is OK? O2 is still pumping down? And A/C?

[Spktyr]

I’d assume so, no mention of any other damage in the article.

[MEGoody]

3,200! Oh my gosh! Prayers for the miners and their families.

[Ditto]

But their umbilical is OK? O2 is still pumping down? And A/C?

That would be my concern too.

[djf]

A friend of mine got a chance to go into one of the BIG - I mean REALLY BIG silver mines in Nevada. Maybe one having to do with the Comstock lode or something.

He said it was jaw dropping... dozens of levels, huge shafts that had been put in just for airflow, running streams underground and running hot water and sinks, bunks because some guys would just stay down there.

Pretty impressive. A guy could live down there for a long time.

[Aristotelian]

BBC reports:

The 2.2km (1.4mile) shaft was blocked near the bottom, trapping the workers.

Rescuers are trying to use an adjacent shaft to rescue the miners, a spokeswoman for the mine’s owner, Harmony Gold Mining, said.

The accident happened at about 0800 GMT and there has been no communication with the miners since then, she said.

[pandoraou812]

Prayers for the miners & their families

[RDTF]

Fox just confirmed this - 3200 people

[Pontiac]

A burst water pipe is thought to have caused a shaft to collapse

I wonder how much water poured in to the mine before they isolated the burst pipe.

Another question in my mind is when the pipe burst did it take out the power supply to the pumps that keep water out of the mine.

[headsonpikes]

My heart goes out to their families - what a nightmare!

[doorgunner69]

3,200 miners a mile beneath the surface? I have a hard time grappling with the image of that.

And only one mineshaft?

[SpaceBar]

The South Africans are world class mining experts.

They couldn’t be in better hands.

Prayers for their safety.

[jdm]

It’s not due to a collapse, it’s just that the “elevator” is broken and they have to reconfigure another “elevator” to allow them to exit safely. Nobody’s been hurt, they just can’t get out.

That's not what this says...

excerpt~

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - A water pipe burst and soil in an underground shaft probably collapsed Wednesday morning, trapping about 3,000 workers in a gold mine near Johannesburg, South Africa's economic capital and gold-mining center, the workers' union said.

It was not immediately possible to get comment from the management of Harmony Gold's Elandsrand Mine in Carletonville, nor details, such about how deep down the shaft is.

The spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers, Lesiba Seshoka, said the managers were meeting with union members.

Miners had gone down the shaft, then the water pipe burst, and they had not been heard from since about 10 a.m., he said.

``It's a terrible situation,'' Seshoka told The Associated Press. ``The only exit is blocked, probably by a fall of ground.''

[tet68]

It was so hot in some of the deep mines that special rooms
were created, insulated with sawdust, that were chilled with
Ice to allow the miners to cool off periodically.

Comstock Bump.

[JimSEA]

The first report I read was that one shaft had collapsed due to a broken pipe and that this hoist was currently inoperable. The later reports sound more hopeful. Magma’s cages had 25 men one each level for a total of 50 total per cage. Maintenance and vent shaft cages had lesser capacity. I can’t really visualize getting 3000 + down for one shift. Also, 4000 feet depth is considered really deep for what I am used to.

[xJones]

The Comstock was very impressive for it's time, and it's deepest tunnel was 3300 ft. deep. These modern-day South African miners are 7,200 feet (l mile=5280 ft.) underground. We can only hope they have enough air conduits to keep them going until they can be rescued..

[djf]

All miners at or on their way to the surface.

Twenty minute trip up.