109 miners escape from gold mine in South Africa but others continue union standoff, official says

abcnews.go.com:

A company official says more than 100 miners have escaped from a gold mine in South Africa after being held underground for three days by fellow employees in a union dispute

SPRINGS, South Africa — More than 100 miners escaped from a gold mine in South Africa on Wednesday after being held underground for three days by fellow employees in a union dispute, a company official said.

Around 450 workers remain in the mine, the official said, with an unknown number of them preventing the others from leaving as they demand formal recognition of their labor union. The company that runs the mine says it has rough estimates that around 110-120 of the miners underground might be supporters of the unregistered union and were holding the others, although it was not certain.

The union — The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union — gave another version of the events and says the miners were staying underground willingly as a protest in support of the union.

Police and mine officials have called it a “hostage” situation.

The standoff at the Modder East mine in Springs, east of Johannesburg, began early Monday after 562 miners and other workers remained underground at the end of their night shift.

Mine officials say approximately 15 were injured in scuffles, including a man that authorities think sustained a serious head injury. When mine officials sent a paramedic and a security officer to evacuate the man from the mine, they were also taken hostage, according to the head of the mine.

On Wednesday, 109 miners forced their way out, said Ziyaad Hassam, the head of legal at Gold One International, the company that owns the mine.

“This morning, they banded together and overpowered those controlling them and blocking the exits,”