87 rescued as gold mine collapses in South Africa

QUICK PILL

• About 115 miners were trapped in a gold mine in South Africa when a building collapsed on it on 4 February.

• Efforts are on at the Lily mine in Barberton, Mpumalanga province.

• No major casualties have been reported so far.

About 115 miners were trapped in a gold mine in South Africa when a building collapsed on it, early this morning.

However, officials at Vantage Goldfields, owners of the Lily mine in Barberton, Mpumalanga province, where the incident occurred, confirmed to Reuters that at least 87 miners had so far been rescued. Attempts to save the rest are underway.

Those rescued have suffered minor injuries and no major casualties have been reported so far.

Emergency teams are in touch with those still trapped, however, they believe at least five employees are unaccounted for. "We have sent some of our own staff underground to try and come in from behind that area to see whether there are any survivors from that building, who may have been able to crawl out and into one or two of the old tunnels," Mike Begg, operations director of the mine told a local newspaper

The incident occurred around 8.40 am local time, on Friday. The cause of the cave-in is yet to be determined.