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To: The Ox who wrote (46988)	1/11/2000 8:34:00 PM
From: The Ox	Respond to of 116767

Six trapped South African miners found alive By Theophillis Mashiyane ORKNEY, South Africa, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Rescuers made contact on Tuesday with one of 15 gold miners trapped by a rockfall deep underground in South Africa, and he said five of his colleagues were alive, four dead and five missing, the mine owners said. ``We have got water to the six miners who are alive, but they are still trapped behind a few metres of fallen rock and efforts are continuing to get them out,' African Rainbow Minerals Ltd spokeswoman Charmane Russell told Reuters. Rescuers have moved hundreds of tonnes of rock to reach the miners who were trapped 2,100 metres (6,900 feet) underground on Monday after a seismic event measuring 2.9 on the Richter scale. The rescuers have pushed a water pipe through to the survivors, Russell said, adding that the condition of the trapped men was unclear. At that depth temperatures can reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). ``We are concentrating all our efforts in making sure that we contact or get information concerning the missing five,' the mine's executive chairman Patrice Motsepe told state television. ``We are working around the clock right now and all efforts are in the process of making sure we bring them to the surface as soon as possible.' Rescue teams rushed in from other mines in the area had removed about 300 tonnes of rock from blocked passageways by late Tuesday afternoon. South Africa's Minister of Minerals and Energy Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka said she was shocked by the accident. ``All our sympathies are with the miners who are trapped underground (and) their families. It is a time of extreme anxiety and sadness for us all,' Ngcuka said in a statement. The mine is located near the town of Orkney, about 160 km (100 miles) southwest of Johannesburg. Motsepe said the company had state-of-the-art equipment to detect seismic events and pledged to find the cause of the accident. ``As a company we have done more than what the industry required,' Motsepe said. A senior official with the minerals and energy department said inspectors were at the mine and would begin an investigation when the rescue effort was finished. The trapped miners included eight men from Lesotho, four South Africans, two Mozambicans and one man from Swaziland. The tremor occurred at the mine's number two shaft, where 2,700 miners work and which produces 6.5 tonnes of gold a year. South Africa, the world's biggest gold producer, has some of the world's deepest and most dangerous gold mines. In the industry's last major accident, 19 miners were killed by a methane gas explosion at the Mponeng mine, owned by AngloGold Ltd, in July last year. The force of small earth tremors can be greatly magnified underground and cause tunnels or rock faces to collapse. 19:29 01-11-00