More than 2,000 scared, exhausted and hungry workers have been rescued after hours deep in a crippled gold mine, and efforts gathered speed Thursday to bring hundreds more to the surface, reported ap. There were no casualties when a pressurized air pipe snapped at the mine near Johannesburg and tumbled down a shaft, causing extensive damage to an elevator and trapping more than 3,000 miners more than a mile underground Wednesday. The accident prompted allegations that one of South Africa's most important industry was cutting safety corners in the name of profit _ and complaints from the government that mine owner Harmony Gold Mining Co. did not bother to inform it of the potential crisis. Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said she and President Mbeki learned of the accident on the late evening news. Mining officials had discovered the elevator was inoperable just after 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) Wednesday. News was first made public by the miners union at 9 p.m. Sonjica said during a visit to the Elandsrand mine at Carletonville _ a town in South Africa's mining heartland near Johannesburg _ that health and safety legislation would be «tightened up.» Last year, 199 mineworkers died in accidents, mostly rock falls, the government Mine Health and Safety Council reported in September. One worker was killed last week in a mine adjacent to Elandsrand. «We have to recommit ourselves to refocus on safety in this country, our safety record both as a company and an industry leave much to be desired,» Harmony chairman Patrice Motsepe said, according to the South African Press Association. At the mine, general manager Stan Bierschenk said that while morale was low underground, miners perked up as soon as they were rescued. He said most complained of heat exhaustion and fatigue. The hundreds of workers who remained underground were all near a ventilation shaft and had been given water _ though no food for fear of provoking a scramble among miners who had been underground for nearly two days, according to Peter Bailey, health and safety chairman for the National Mineworkers Union. Bierschenk said the company hoped to complete the rescue by lunchtime, although union official Bailey said late afternoon was more realistic. Most of the workers were stranded a kilometer and a half _ or one mile _ underground at the Elandsrand mine and had to be brought to the surface in a second, smaller cage in another shaft. Sethiri Thibile, one of the first miners rescued, clutched a cold beef sandwich and a bottle of water he was given when he reached the surface. «I was hungry, though we were all hungry,» said Thibile, 32, an engineering assistant who had been underground since 5 a.m. Wednesday. He said there was no food or water in the mine. «Most of the people are scared and we also have some women miners there underground,» said Thibile. One miner, who did not wish to give his name, said that conditions underground were deteriorating. He said the men were trapped in a confined area that stunk of urine and feces. «The morale of the family members is low, the morale of colleagues of the trapped miners is naturally low,» said the mineworkers union's Bailey. «There is a lot of anger toward management.» Family members stood outside the mine offices, complaining that they had not been given enough information about their loved ones trapped underground. «I am very traumatized, exhausted, not knowing what is going on,» said Sam Ramohanoe, whose wife, Flora, 31, was among the trapped miners. He said the family members had to force the company to send a management official to talk to them. «It is very unfair to us not knowing what is going on with our beloved ones,» he said. As the rescue effort proceeded, allegations of lax safety standards began to fly. Bailey said that although the company inspected the shaft last week, the check took just 30 minutes rather than the full day required for an exhaustive inspection. He said that management had allowed the alternative emergency exit to become flooded because it had become complacent about safety standards. He said this was a general trend in the industry.
