Union fears for 3,200 trapped South African miners

By Gershwin Wanneburg

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Some 3,200 miners were trapped deep underground in a South African gold mine on Wednesday and a union spokesman said they could be suffocating.

The miners at the Elandsrand mine were caught about 2.2 km (1.4 miles) down after a power cable to a lift broke at around 0800 GMT on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for owners Harmony Gold, the world's fifth biggest gold producer, said.

A National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) spokesman said the miners were trapped in a cramped space where temperatures could reach 30 to 40 degrees Celsius (86-104 Fahrenheit).

"We are very worried because ... they might be suffocating," NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said. "There is no contact at the moment. That is our greatest worry."

He said although officials from Harmony Gold had made rescue plans, the union feared it might take 10 more hours before they got started.

Harmony spokeswoman Amelia Soares said mine engineers were trying to retrieve the workers by lowering an adjacent lift. The rescue operation could last well into Thursday morning, as it may only be possible to lift out a few hundred at a time.

"They were underground when the accident happened and they were not able to surface because an electric feeder cable that is connected to the mine lift was severed," Soares said.

Production at Elandsrand had been halted and would remain stopped on Thursday, she said.