Deaths in Zimbabwe mine accident

Seven miners have plunged to their deaths and several others have been injured when an elevator transporting them in a Zimbabwe gold mine snapped, a union official says.

“Seven miners are said to have died and 11 survived,” Tinago Ruzive, president of the Associated Mineworkers’ Union of Zimbabwe told AFP news agency on Wednesday.

The miners drowned when the cage sank in a flooded shaft hundreds of metres below the surface on Monday night, according to local media reports.

Another 11 miners were rescued shortly afterwards from the locally-owned Golden Valley Mine in the central town of Kadoma, 145km southwest of the capital Harare.

Doug Verden, senior executive with the Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines, told AFP he was still waiting for a report from the mine.

The union has sent its officials to the mine and will provide full details on Thursday.

Police were not immediately available for comment.