The incident happened on Monday evening, at the end of a workers' shift at a mine in the northern South African city of Rustenburg. In addition to the dead, all the injured workers were taken to hospital.
The Impala Platinum 11 mine area, where the accident occurred. Photo: AP
Impala Platinum mine chief executive Nico Muller said it was “the darkest day in the history of Implats”. He said an investigation had begun into the cause of the elevator crash and the mine suspended all operations on Tuesday.
All 86 workers killed or injured were in the elevator, company spokesman Johan Theron said, adding that some of the injured suffered “severe fractures”.
Theron said the elevator fell about 200 meters. He called it a very unusual accident. Implats said the giant elevator had three floors, each with a capacity of 35 workers. The mine was about 1 km deep.
South Africa is the world's largest producer of platinum. The Impala Rustenburg mine area has nine small mines and was the world's largest platinum mine by output last year.
South Africa had 49 deaths from all mining accidents in 2022, down from 74 the previous year. According to official figures, mining fatalities in South Africa have been falling steadily from nearly 300 in 2000.
Bui Huy (according to AP)
Source
Comment (0)