More than 100 miners are crushed to death near Orkney

The mining industry in South Africa remains one of the most hazardous professions, this despite the enormous amounts invested in it and the resulting wealth derived from it. South Africa is a world leader in deep mining, with its gold mines being the deepest man-made excavations to date. However the cost of mining activities, in South Africa, with regard to human life and environment is tremendous.  On10 May 1995, more than 100 miners lost their lives when a elevator plunged to the bottom of a mineshaft in Orkney, in the Northwest Province of South Africa. It is believed that the accident came about through human negligence, as a locomotive is believed to have burst through a safety barrier and landed on top of the cage, snapping the cable and plunging the occupants to their deaths. References: Thursday 11 May 1995, McCook Daily Gazette, As many as 100 feared in mine accident (online), available at: http://news.google.com [Accessed 30 April 2010] 100 Feared Dead in Elevator Fall at South African Mine. (online), available at: http://www.themoscowtimes.com [Accessed 30 April 2010]