Ballarat mine collapse: Man killed and another injured in Australian accident

Following a collapse at a gold mine in Australia, one man has lost his life while another remains critically injured. The incident occurred when falling rocks struck the pair 500 meters (1,640 feet) underground at the Ballarat site, near Melbourne, on Wednesday afternoon local time.

Twenty-nine other miners sought refuge in a nearby “safety pod,” and the injured individual was evacuated nearly four hours later. The incident has drawn sharp criticism from a trade union and will undergo investigation by a workplace regulator.

The body of a 37-year-old man was recovered at the scene, located approximately 3 kilometres from the mine entrance, early on Thursday morning. His 21-year-old colleague, who sustained lower body injuries, was stabilised by paramedics and extracted from the mine the previous night. As of Thursday, he remains hospitalised.

Victory Minerals, the mine’s owner, expressed sorrow over the death of their employee. According to the Australian Workers Union, the miners were engaged in a manual extraction method known as “air legging.”