Nearly a third of the 260 miners who were trapped underground after an accident at a Sibanye-Stillwater gold mine in South Africa were brought up on Friday, according to the company. A senior union official confirmed that there were no injuries.

The miners became stuck underground due to a malfunction in the hoist system used for shaft access at the Kloof gold mine, one of Sibanye’s deepest located about 37 miles from Johannesburg, following an accident on Thursday.

Sibanye said 79 of the employees had been brought to the surface by 1:30 p.m. local time in the first phase of an operation to extract the miners.

“The remaining 181 employees have been given food and will be brought to the surface once it is safe to do so,” Sibanye mentioned in a statement.

A company spokesperson told Reuters late Friday afternoon that the process was expected to be completed “soon.”

Mamodise Mokone, whose husband is among the miners still trapped underground, reacts as she speaks to the media at the Sibanye Stillwater mine, in Westonaria, Johannesburg, South Africa, May 23, 2025.  (Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko)

“Fortunately there were no fatalities or injuries,” National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Health and Safety Chairperson Duncan Luvuno told journalists at the site. “But for … 24 hours people were not eating or drinking anything. This is not adequate. Some have chronic diseases.”

Journalists were barred by security guards from getting near to the mine shaft, but a Reuters reporter saw some of the miners, looking tired but in good health, walk to the perimeter of the company grounds and board buses.

Relatives of those still in the mine, however, expressed shock and worry that their loved ones remained underground.

“I haven’t slept a wink,” said Mamodise Mokone, whose husband was among the miners. “I just want to tell the management or whoever is in charge: I just want my husband out alive.”

Sibanye earlier said all the workers were safe after what it called a “shaft incident” in the Kloof 7 shaft and were gathered at an assembly point as efforts were launched to bring them out of the mine.

Johannesburg-based Sibanye is among only a few South African miners squeezing profits from some of the world’s deepest and costliest gold mines. Sibanye is digging for gold at depths of roughly two miles at the Kloof 7 shaft.

The Kloof mine, which accounts for 14% of Sibanye’s total gold output, also operates two other shafts. The company mines platinum-group metals in South Africa and the United States as well.

Mining accidents are not uncommon in South Africa, where many abandoned mines have been taken over by informal diggers.

Earlier this year, at least 78 bodies were pulled from an illegal gold mine after police cut off food and water supplies for months in an attempt to crack down on illegal mining activity.