TORONTO (Reuters):
ALL 72 miners who had been trapped underground by a fire in a Western Canadian potash mine were being reunited with their families yesterday, amid relief no one was injured during the 30-hour ordeal.
Officials at the mine, owned by Minnesota-based Mosaic Co., said an investigation into what caused the fire will begin immediately and could be completed this week.
"All 72 of our miners are safely on surface and are completely healthy," said Mosaic spokesman Marshall Hamilton.
"I can assure you we'll be doing a complete investigation in the coming days and once we know the cause of that, we'll take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again."
The fire broke out at 3:00 a.m. Central Standard Time (0900 GMT) on Sunday, forcing the miners to seek safety in emergency refuge rooms as firefighters battled the blaze and then cleared smoke from the underground mine.
Officials didn't know what caused the blaze, but said polyethylene pipe, which removes water from the mine, was burning.
MINE SIZE DELAYED THE RESCUE
They said the sheer size of the mine - ranging 18.6 miles (30 km) by 12 miles (20 km) - had delayed the rescue of the final five miners who were brought to the surface by mid-morning on Monday.
"Right now, it wasn't as important for us to determine what caused it as it was for us to put it out and get our workers to safely on the surface," Hamilton said.
