HUGE RESCUE PUSH AT S. AFRICA MINE!

The miners can only be brought to the surface in small groups. Rescuers are slowly bringing to the surface thousands of workers trapped for hours in a South African gold mine. More than 3,000 men became trapped 2.2km (1.4 miles) underground when a broken pipe severed power cables to a lift on Wednesday. More than 1,000 have been freed so far from the Elandsrand mine, 80km (50 miles) west of Johannesburg. The miners are being brought out through a small shaft, and only 75 can be hauled clear at a time.

The accident at the mine, owned by Harmony Gold Mining, happened at about 1000 (0800 GMT). A spokeswoman for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said the miners were trapped in a cramped space where temperatures could reach 30-40C (86-104 Fahrenheit).
Sethiri Thibile, one of the first miners to be rescued, had been underground since 0500 on Wednesday.

ELANDSRAND GOLD MINE

Elandsrand mine has 6.9 million ounces of proven reserves
Located 80km (50 miles) west of Johannesburg
It has two vertical shafts - a men/material shaft and a rock/ventilation shaft
A new mine, to be finished by 2010, is being built under the existing mine, which is still in use
Harmony Gold Mining bought the mine in 2001

"I was hungry, though we were all hungry," he told the Associated Press news agency. "Most of the people are scared," he said. A spokeswoman for the mining company, Amelia Soares, told the BBC that paramedics had reached the miners and that none had been injured in the accident. She said the bottom of the shaft where they are trapped was well ventilated, and that the miners had access to water. However, some of them have been underground since the night shift on Tuesday and they are said to be hungry and thirsty. Rescuing all 3,200 will take some time, as only 300 people can be brought to the surface every hour.

Ms Soares said a compressed pipe column fell down the mineshaft, damaging steel work in the shaft and cutting electrical cords connected to the lifts underground. The damage was only noticed late on Wednesday, when miners working the day shift tried to surface from the deep shaft they were working in. An NUM spokesman said the mine shafts had not been properly maintained.
"Our guys there tell us that they have raised concerns about the whole issue of maintenance of shafts with the mine, but they have not been attended to," Lesiba Seshoka told the Associated Press news agency. He said South Africa's mines have a poor safety record, with about 200 workers said to have been killed in accidents in each of the last two years.

The Elandsrand mine is in the Witwatersrand Basin, which holds the world's largest gold deposit. Gold is important to South Africa's economy, says the BBC's Peter Biles in Johannesburg, although the industry has been in decline in recent years.

BBC NEWS REPORT.