Dugald River Mine Collapse: Miners missing after falling 400 feet into remote Queensland sinkhole
Ute of two missing miners who fell a terrifying 400 feet into a pit of an underground mine is found as desperate rescue efforts continue
- Two miners are trapped after the earth collapses beneath them
- They fell 400 feet into the mine and nothing has been heard of it
- Specialized drones found the ute in the mining pit
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There is deep fear for two miners who are still missing more than a day after plunging 400 feet into a remote underground pit.
The incident occurred at the Dugald River zinc mine, about 70 km from Cloncurry in remote northwest Queensland, after a drilling rig fell into the pit just before 9am Wednesday morning.
The two men were laying explosive charges when they fell and got stuck in a stope, a hole used to extract minerals from the mine.
Rescue workers deployed underground drones at night to try to find the wreckage and discovered the ute in a deep void on Thursday.
The miners reportedly did not respond by radio and it is not clear if they survived the incident.
“Rescue efforts continued overnight as Barminco worked closely with MMG and relevant authorities to conduct and continue the search and rescue operation,” said the mine’s parent company, Perenti.
Two miners are trapped in the Dugald River zinc mine in rural northwestern Queensland (pictured, a map of where the mine is located)
“The rescue team used drones, void-scanning technology and video images and this enabled them to locate the light vehicle we believe the two missing employees were driving.”
“The rescue team worked all night, including using heavy underground mining equipment to access the vehicle.”
Cloncurry Shire Mayor Greg Campbell said he hoped the men were safe.
“These will be highly trained people who are on that mine rescue team, but hopefully they hope never to have to do it when they’re doing that kind of job,” Campbell told the Today Show Thursday morning.
“But at Dugald River, they’re going to put those skills to the test today.
‘As a community [we have] to express our thoughts and prayers for these people and their families as well as to the mine rescue teams and the other emergency services who will be rescuing them.
“We are thinking of all the families of the two involved and those rescuers and hope we can still see a good, positive outcome.
“It’s going to be difficult, the underground spaces are limited, so it’s going to be a challenge and we just have to hope for the best.”
It is understood that the two workers of the Dugald River mine (above) were reported missing after a drilling rig fell into a stope, a hole used to extract minerals from the mine
MMG Limited previously said in a statement that the mine had ceased all operations.
“Two Barminco employees working at MMG’s Dugald River mine in Queensland were involved in an incident this morning and are currently missing,” the company said.
The site’s emergency response has been activated and is working closely with Barminco and authorities to assist with search and rescue efforts.
“Operations at Dugald River have been halted while the search is ongoing.
“MMG has extended all available resources and support to Barminco and the Dugald River mine.”
Barminco is a hard rock mining service owned by Perenti, a global mining group.