JAKARTA: Four miners were rescued on Tuesday night while many others remain missing following the collapse of a mine tunnel in eastern Indonesia, Xinhua news agency quoted local media reports.
It took 10 hours for the rescue team to dig through the tunnel of U.S.
mining giant Freeport-McMoRan to reach the miners, who were trapped at 07:30 a.m. (2330 GMT) early Tuesday local time.
Indonesian media reported one man was treated at a nearby hospital and three others suffered minor injuries.
Indonesia’s news portal Republika Online said at least 40 workers are still trapped in the tunnel with no report of fatalities at present.
“Our first priority is to make every effort to rescue trapped workers,” said Rozik Boedioro Soetjipto, president-director of Freeport Indonesia.
Production at Freeport Indonesia’s Grasberg mine where the tunnel collapsed was not expected to be significantly affected, according to Republika.
The Grasberg mine which began operations in the 1970s holds the world’s largest gold and second-biggest copper deposit. –BERNAMA