Mine reoperating after fatal incident

Eva C. Komandjaja and Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Bogor

The state mining company PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) has resumed operation after a deadly incident inside Mount Pongkor gold mine in Bogor regency, although miners are still trapped within the mine.

Head of Pongkor operation unit, Iwan Irawan, reassured the public on Saturday that activities at the mine operation would not be disrupted by the incident that took place early on Wednesday.

"We resumed activities on Friday... the evacuation process is ongoing as we believe that six illegal gold miners are still trapped," he said.

So far, the rescue team has evacuated six illegal miners. One Antam employee died, probably from inhaling thick, black smoke from inside the mine.

Iwan added that, to date, the origin and cause of the smoke had not been determined.

His assistant, Eko Warman, explained that there were hundreds of man-sized holes in the pit, which had been excavated by illegal miners. He added that rescuers would have to check the holes one by one.

"We only know that the smoke is coming from the Kubang Kicau mine where illegal mining is rife. When the incident took place, Antam employees were working in Ciurug mine, which is 1.6 kilometers away," Eko said.

Therefore, Eko assumed that illegal miners had lit the fire, which had caused an abundance of smoke with a high carbon monoxide level.

"Many of them (miners) stay inside the mine for days, sometimes they bring cooking equipment and logs to make a fire for cooking," he claimed.

Company officials denied earlier reports that employees had set tires alight to smoke out the illegal miners.

Antam executive director Dedi Aditya Sumanagara said that lighting a fire within a mine was very dangerous, "We would never do that to flush out illegal miners, or for any other purpose, because it would harm our employees," he continued.

Iwan said that completion of the evacuation process would depend on the carbon monoxide level inside the mine.

The company is using its two main exhaust fans to suck out the deadly smoke and blow fresh air into the tunnels, in a bid to reduce the carbon monoxide level to below the tolerable level of 25 parts per million (ppm).

Meanwhile, it was reported that rescuers were forced to stop work on Saturday afternoon as the carbon monoxide level suddenly increased to 500 ppm from the earlier 153 ppm.

A survivor said that smoke had first inundated the mine on Wednesday afternoon and quickly engulfed the highest level of the pit, located approximately 500 meters above the base of the mountain, where more than 90 miners were working.