Eight bodies found after South Africa gold mine fire; one worker still missing

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Rescuers recovered the bodies of eight workers trapped in a South African gold mine after an underground fire this week, the company said Thursday.

One more worker remains unaccounted for, Harmony Gold Mining Co. said in a statement. The company owns Doornkop mine, where the fire erupted Tuesday.

A day before the bodies were found, emergency workers rescued eight other workers and brought them to the surface of the mine west of Johannesburg.

The miners rescued were unharmed, but will be kept under medical observation as a precaution.

Seismic activity triggered the fire 1,733 meters (5,700 feet) underground, officials said.

Operations other than essential services have been suspended at the mine.

 

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7 Die in Fire Destroying Argentine Bank Archives

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Seven first-responders were killed and nine others injured Wednesday battling a fire of unknown origin that destroyed an archive of bank documents in Argentina’s capital.

Five firefighters and two civil defense workers were killed when a wall of the building collapsed on top of a large group of first-responders on the sidewalk and street outside, Argentina’s Security Secretary Sergio Berni said.

Rescuers removed rubble by hand to reach the dead and injured. Nine people were hospitalized with serious injuries, national civil defense director Alberto Crescienti.

The destroyed archives included documents stored for Argentina’s banking industry, said Buenos Aires security minister Guillermo Montenegro.

The cause of the fire wasn’t immediately clear.

“There are cameras in the area, and these videos will be added to the judicial investigation, to clear up the motive of the fire and collapse,” Montenegro told the Diarios y Noticias agency.

 

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6 Coal Miners Killed in Fire in Vietnam

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Six workers were killed in a fire in an underground coal tunnel in northern Vietnam, an official said Thursday.

 

One worker escaped with burns after the fire erupted Wednesday night, and the bodies of six others who died of suffocation were pulled out Thursday morning, said Duong Quang Lai, director of the Uong Bi Coal Co. in Quang Ninh province.

 

Authorities on Thursday were still trying to put out the fire at the tunnel, which is between 30-105 meters (98-345 feet) deep, he said.

 

An investigation is underway.

 

The province is Vietnam’s main coal-mining region. Dozens of workers have been killed in the past decade in mining accidents there.

 

 

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