Eleven people died on Monday in a platinum mine about 150 kilometers from the South African city of Johannesburg, when an elevator with workers fell, the company that owns it reported this Tuesday.
“Eighty-six employees were in the elevator, 11 died and all the others were taken to a hospital,” an Impala Platinum spokesperson told Agence France-Presse (AFP), adding that there were serious injuries.
In this mine 1,000 meters deep, northwest of Johannesburg, the elevator transported miners from the base and stopped on the way up to “pick up the miners at the end of the shift,” shortly before 5 p.m. on Monday ( 3:00 p.m. in Lisbon). company spokesman Johan Theron told AFP.
At the third stop, “it suddenly started to descend,” the person in charge added, explaining that the system was automated.
An operator “then applied emergency protocols,” but the elevator continued to descend and only stopped at the bottom, when the counterweight rose to the surface and caused “a sudden stop.”
“Some [funcionários] died, others were seriously injured, others escaped with scratches,” the spokesperson continued, adding that many of the injured had broken ankles and legs.
Source: TSF
