2LT International News

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – A fiery blaze at a copper mine, operated by an unlisted organization in South Africa is said to have killed five miners on Sunday. 

South Africa’s Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union said in a statement that five miners died in a South African copper mine Sunday after a fire trapped the workers underground.

The unlisted company, identified as Palabora Mining also released a statement confirming the deaths. 

The union said that one of the miners was still trapped in the mining company in Limpopo, which is north of Johannesburg.

According to the union, the fire began on Sunday around 1:25 a.m. soon after which, workers were ordered to evacuate to the nearest protective chamber, called the refuge chamber.

It further explained in the statement that a while later, a team found the bodies of two miners and a survivor.

Pointing out that temperatures reached 67 degrees Celsius, making rescue efforts difficult. 

Subsequently, the bodies of three other mine workers were recovered from the chamber.

According to the union, the injured worker was taken to a hospital.

South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources said on Twitter, “The search for one employee continues and an investigation will commence once the last remaining employee is found and the fire underground has been contained and the area declared safe.”

The country has recorded many incidents and deaths recently, which have raised concerns related to safety inside South Africa’s dangerous mines. 

Two months back, seven miners died at Masakhane gold mine, west of Johannesburg at the Sibanye-Stillwater’s Driefontein operation after an earthquake led to the cave-in.

Before that, in February this year, over 900 miners were trapped in a mine for at least 24 hours following a power loss in Theunissen in the province of Free State and were subsequently rescued.