SA gold miners die after earthquake strikes

JOHANNESBURG - Four miners have died after an earthquake caused a cave-in at a South African gold mine.

The miners were among 10 rescued from SibanyeStillwater's Masakhane mine, west of Johannesburg, after the incident on Thursday.

Three miners remain trapped, two of whom are still unaccounted for, the company said.

South Africa is a leading gold producer, but the industry has often been accused of a poor safety record.

This is the second large-scale incident at mines controlled by Sibanye-Stillwater in recent months.

Back in February, 955 miners became trapped underground for more than 24 hours after a storm knocked out the power, and the back-up generators failed to work.

On that occasion, no-one died. But not long afterwards, two of the company's employees were killed at a different mine, news agency AFP reports.

This latest incident took place after "the epicentre (of the quake struck) very close to where the miners were working," SibanyeStillwater spokesman James Wellsted told AFP.

South Africa's largest trade union, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), has criticised the company, saying in a statement it was "alarmed by the deteriorating and poor safety record of Sibanye-Stillwater."