More than 2,000 workers have been freed after an accident at a South African gold mine left them stuck 2 kilometers (1.3 miles) underground but about 1,200 people remain trapped, officials say. "I'm happy now because we are out and we are alive," said Granny Makau, one of the miners who was trapped inside Elandstrand New Mine, north of Johannesburg. "No one died so we are happy."The workers were trapped in the cavernous mine -- which is built like an underground city complete with trains, trucks and cars -- when the power source was knocked out, disabling the elevators leading to the surface at about 6 a.m. Wednesday (0400 GMT), South Africa's ambassador to the United States, Welile Nhlapo told CNN.
Harmony Gold Mining Company President Graham Briggs, whose company oversees mining operations there, said a large compressed air pipe fell down a shaft, knocking out power.
"This was a situation where the people were not really in danger, they were underground," Briggs told CNN on Thursday. "It's not really an accident in the sense of an underground accident -- in the sense of a falling rock."
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