JAKARTA (Bernama): Seven miners remain missing after a mudflow struck PT Freeport Indonesia’s Grasberg underground mine in Papua last week, the energy ministry said on Monday.
Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Yuliot Tanjung said rescuers had dug tunnels to reach the site where the workers were believed to be trapped, but they were not found, and contact with them has been lost.
"The operation was expected to take 30 hours. Two new tunnels have reached the initial location, but the workers were not there,” Yuliot was quoted as saying by CNBC Indonesia.
The incident took place on September 8 at 10 pm local time when a massive mudflow swept through the mine in the remote highlands of Tembagapura, Mimika regency.
Freeport suspended mining at Grasberg the following day to clear access routes and search for the missing workers.
"Rescuers and authorities are drilling non-stop to reach the trapped workers,” the company mentioned in a statement.
Freeport, a unit of Indonesian state-owned Mining Industry Indonesia (MIND ID) and the US-based Freeport-McMoRan, runs the Grasberg mine in Papua, one of the world’s largest copper and gold deposits. - Bernama
