(8 Oct 1977) notes: col print
location: virginia, south africa
title: welkom disaster
serviced date: 10/09/77
no: lnc 87021
date shot: 10/08/77
length: 36ft
seconds: 58
sound: part sof english speech
date of arrival:

film shows: general scenes of mines, shots of rescue operations underway, interview with spokesman for mine.

lead in: Four miners died, and ten remained trapped Saturday (8 Oct 77) 1,700 metres below the surface, after a disaster at the Saaiplaas goldmine, near Virginia, South Africa.

rescue workers said there was little hope of finding the 10 black miners, who were trapped at 6am on friday (7 october 77). teams of rescue workers laboured through the night, trying to dig through tons of loose rock and debris to reach the trapped men.

the bodies of the four miners killed in the disaster, three whites and a black, were brought to the surface along with 51 survivors.



commentary: the disaster occured when a "kibble", a huge ore bucket, carrying nine tons of ore to the surface, broke its cable and crashed 900 metres to the bottom. officials said it was possible the 10 miners still missing were trapped underneath the kibble when it fell, or drowned in water at the bottom of the shaft.

six weeks ago 37 miners died in twin mining diasters at two western transvaal goldmines, hartebeesfontein and carletonville. friday's crash took place in the welkom mining area, in the orange free state.

a senior mine spokesman, martin fallon explained what was being done for the ten missing miners.

take sof to end: fallon: "clearly, rescue operations are still going on. the mine management has been working all through the night to establish exactly what danger remains in the shaft in the form of hanging areas or difficult machinery and so on. and obviously the prime target at this stage is to find out how quickly, or how, we can bring out the 10 men who are still stuck at the bottom of the shaft."

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