ABOUT 950 gold miners were stuck underground in South Africa on Thursday after a power cut, the mine’s owner said, though the workers were not reported to be in immediate danger.

“We sent rescue teams down, accounted for all the people and obviously are trying to get them out of there as soon as possible,” James Wellsted, spokesman for the Sibanye-Stillwater mining company, told ENCA television.

The company said a storm knocked out power on Wednesday night, preventing evening shift workers from exiting the mine.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) said at least 40 workers had been brought back to the surface at the gold mine, with 900 miners still below ground.

Mine officials said food and water have been delivered to those trapped miners.

In 2005, Tasmania’s Beaconsfield gold mine collapsed. While 14 workers managed to escape, Larry Knight died in the initial rockfall and Brant Webb and Todd Russell were trapped underground for two weeks before being rescued.

Harmony Gold brought 3200 workers to surface at its Elandsrand gold mine in 2007, after a shaft was damaged.

In August 2010, 33 miners were trapped at a gold mine in Chile for a record 69 days 700 metres below the ground before being rescued.