CANBERRA, Australia - Fifty-four miners who spent nearly eight hours trapped underground by a fire in an Australian gold mine Wednesday were rescued, the mining company said.
Workers at the Barrick Gold Corp.'s Kanowa Belle mine near the southwestern mining town of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia state were placed in underground emergency shelters when a truck caught fire in a mine shaft Wednesday morning, according to company spokesman Selena Watt.
"Everyone has been brought to the surface throughout the afternoon, with the last 16 evacuated by 5:20 p.m.," Watt said. "They're hoping to get the truck out tonight and they're looking to have the operations up and running by the morning."
The fire was quickly extinguished but created health concerns because of the smoke. Barrick said no one was injured, but the company moved all 54 miners working underground at the time of the fire into safety chambers "as a precautionary measure."
Front Section, Pages 2 on 10/25/2007