Earthquake traps 42 miners underground in South Africa
Earthquake traps 42 miners underground in South Africa Wed March 9, 2005 6:12 PM GMT+02:00
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - An earthquake in South Africa trapped 42 miners when it collapsed some deep underground tunnels, gold mining company DRDGOLD told Reuters.
"Some of the access tunnels have been closed by fallen rock ... the guys are digging like mad at the moment trying to get to them," spokesman Ilja Graulich at gold mining company.
The quake measured 5.0 on the Richter scale and was felt in Johannesburg at 12:16 p.m. (1016 GMT). It had its epicentre near the town of Stilfontein, 155 km (97 miles) southwest of Johannesburg, experts at the Council for Geoscience in Pretoria said.