More than 3,000 mineworkers were trapped in a gold mine in South Africa's Gauteng province Wednesday evening more than 12 hours after a falling pipe damaged the mine shaft, leaving them stranded, according to DPA. A 15-metre section of pipe column near the shaft surface broke due to "fatigue" and plunged to the bottom, cutting off power to the shaft, Amelia Soares, a spokeswoman for Harmony Gold, the world's fifth-largest gold mining company told SAPA news agency. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said the accident occurred around 10 am (0800 GMT). "Nobody was injured, but there was extensive damage to the steel work and electrical feeder cords," Soares said. Workers above ground were trying to "reconfigure" a second shaft, usually used to transport waste, to hoist the trapped workers to the surface, the SAPA report said. The company expected that task to be completed within a few hours, but once operational the evacuation process would be slow as the secondary shaft could only transport 300 workers every half hour. It was unclear whether the workers had any other escape route from the mine. The National Union of Mineworkers accused the mine of not maintaining an emergency exit in the shaft, but Harmony Gold maintained the workers had other outlets, through an adjacent mine. Mining accidents are common in South Africa, the world's largest producer of gold. Over 100 workers were killed in mining accidents in the country in 2006.
