Fire in gold mine

A fire started in the engine of a truck, 100m deep in a gold mine in Waihi at 5am this morning. Twenty-eight men were working in the mine at the time, some of them 300m underground. They immediately went to a safety chamber which is a large metal shed with enough oxygen for 36 hours or more. There are three safety chambers in this mine, each one big enough for 20 people. They have a phone and radio, water, a toilet as well as books and cards. It took about seven hours to rescue the men from the three safety chambers – eight men in one, five in another and 15 in the third one. They were all well and able to walk to the truck which drove them out of the mine. One man may be suffering from smoke inhalation.

There is no danger from an explosion in a gold mine, unlike in a coal mine. The mine had regular safety practices so the men knew what to do. However, it was a worrying time until all the men were rescued.

The fire is still burning but will probably die out in a day or two.

Waihi is on the Coromandel peninsula, 140km south-east of Auckland. Gold was first discovered in Coromandel in1852.

Vocabulary

chamber – room
inhalation – breathing in smoke
fire dies (out) – stops by itself
peninsula – land like a finger

Grammar

• It took about seven hours to rescue …
Can you make other sentences using ‘It takes’ or ‘It took’ e.g. It takes two hours to drive to Waihi from Auckland. It takes (me) 20 minutes to walk to school.

• a worrying time – people were worried
Many adjectives are like this in English e.g. a tiring job, people are tired; an interesting talk, people are interested; surprising/ surprised; amazing / amazed; frightening / frightened