Rescue mission after fire traps N Zealand miners

Rescuers in New Zealand successfully evacuated 13 miners trapped after a fire in a gold mine on Tuesday and were making their way to 15 others still underground, gold producer Newmont said. The company said the 28 miners were forced to take shelter in three underground refuge chambers after a truck engine caught fire at about 5:00 am (1600 GMT Monday) at the Waihi mine in the North Island. Newmont said the miners had been in contact with colleagues on the surface and all had been accounted for. It said two of the chambers had been cleared and a rescue team was on its way to the 15 miners who were occupying the third. The company said the mine was a hardrock gold mine and there was no danger of an explosion caused by underground gases. Twenty nine miners died in November 2010 when methane gases exploded at the South Island's Pike River colliery, in New Zealand's worst mining disaster for almost a century.