BANYUMAS, INDONESIA (AFP) – Indonesian rescuers raced against the clock on Wednesday to save eight people trapped in an illegal gold mine on Java, the country’s biggest island, officials said.
The miners were digging inside a 60-metre-deep hole in Pancurendang village in Central Java on Tuesday evening when water suddenly flooded the illegal mine, police said.
With oxygen fast running out and the potential for severe flooding of the mine shaft, the rescue effort was being aided by the military and had turned to getting the water out.
“We received a report this morning that eight people were trapped inside a mine, right now we are still trying to suck the water out, we are focusing on saving the miners’ lives,” the local police chief Edy Suranta Sitepu told reporters on Wednesday.
The workers went into the mine at 8pm on Tuesday and have been trapped since, he said.
“We don’t know their current condition, let’s pray so they can be evacuated safely,” said Sitepu, who added the mine was unlicenced.
Divers would be sent to look for the miners if attempts to draw the water out of the mine failed, Amin Riyanto, a coordinator for the search-and-rescue team, told reporters.
