Bulldozer driver dies after machine plunges into gold mine

TIMIKA, Indonesia – A bulldozer driver whose machine plunged into a gold mine in Indonesia has died, the site’s US owner said Tuesday, October 18, the latest in a string of deaths at the pit.

Police said the road the vehicle was travelling on had given way under its weight, sending the bulldozer tumbling 20 meters (65 feet) into the open-pit mine at Grasberg, one of the world’s biggest gold and copper ventures.

“The one who was killed was in the vehicle, and was thrown out of the vehicle” on Monday, local police chief Yustanto Mujiharso told AFP.

A second worker was injured. 

The mine, which sits high in the mountains of eastern Papua province, is owned by Freeport-McMoRan, whose local spokesman confirmed one worker had died in an “incident”.

Monday’s death is the latest tragedy at the mine.

In January 2015, 3 security personnel who had been patroling the grounds were found dead with bullet and machete wounds, while in July that year a worker was killed in an accident.

In May 2013, a training tunnel collapsed, killing 28 miners as they took part in a safety course, in one of Indonesia’s worst-ever mining accidents. – Rappler.com