CARLETONVILLE, South Africa, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- All of the 3,200 gold miners stranded more than 1 mile underground in South Africa have been taken to the surface, media reports said.
The Independent Online said President Thabo Mbeki congratulated rescue teams for the successful evacuation.
Early Wednesday, an air pipe ruptured and fell in the main shaft, knocking out power to the main elevators at the Elandstrand New Mine, north of Johannesburg, CNN reported.
Only one slow utility elevator capable of carrying 75 people remained in service, and by Thursday morning, had brought more than half of the men and women miners out.
Each ascent and descent was taking about 30 minutes, South Africa's Gauteng Star reported.
Harmony Gold Mining Co. President Graham Briggs told the network apart from hunger, the miners were never in danger.
"They weren't in personal danger at any time ... this is a delay in getting people to surface," he said. "It's not really an accident in the sense of an underground accident, in the sense of a falling rock."
