One dead in rockfall at Australia’s Ballarat gold mine, 28 survive

One person has died and another is seriously injured following a rockfall at Victory Minerals’ Ballarat gold mine in Australia’s state of Victoria.  

Twenty-eight other men were able to reach a “safety pod” in the mine and escaped, some with serious injuries, Australia’s ABC News reported on Thursday.

The accident trapped miners 500 metres underground, where two were pinned down by the rockfall.

Efforts to rescue one 37-year-old miner were unsuccessful and the individual died, while another man, 21, was saved and rushed to hospital with life threatening injuries to his lower body, ABC said.

Australian Workers’ Union Victorian branch secretary Ronnie Hayden said the miners were doing an underground manual style of mining called “air legging”, using a big drill to penetrate the rock with air and water when the rockfall happened.

Hayden said the miner’s death could have been avoided and air legging shouldn’t have been used, and most mines had halted the practice years ago.

When asked about the union claims, the company said staff safety was its first priority, but it couldn’t comment further as an investigation is underway, ABC reported.

A Victory Minerals spokesperson expressed condolences to the family of the deceased miner and said its sympathies are with all of its employees.

No updates about the accident were posted on the Victory Minerals website.

Operations at the Ballarat mine, about 115 km west of Melbourne, were taken over by the privately-owned Victory Minerals in December.

The site is now closed as police conduct an investigation. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.