All 955 miners trapped in South Africa resurface unharmed

By AFP   February 1, 2018 | 10:40 pm PT
All 955 miners trapped in South Africa resurface unharmed
A rescued miner gestures out a bus window carrying some of the hundreds of miners rescued from the Beatrix gold mine shaft in Theunissen on February 2, 2018. Photo by AFP
The miners were stuck for around 30 hours.

All 955 gold miners who were trapped underground for more than a day in South Africa following a power cut resurfaced unharmed on Friday, the mine's owner Sibanye Gold said.

"Everybody's out," mine spokesman James Wellsted told AFP, adding that there were "cases of dehydration and high blood pressure but nothing serious."

The miners were stuck in the Beatrix gold mine, in the small town of Theunissen near the city of Welkom, for around 30 hours after a massive power outage caused by a storm prevented lifts from bringing workers on the night shift to the surface.

After several hours engineers were able to restore power, allowing the hoist to bring up the miners - who had been trapped since Wednesday evening - in batches.

 
 
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