Miners are leaving gold mine in South Africa having been underground for 3 days in union dispute

By GERALD IMRAY and NQOBILE NTSHANGASE
Associated Press

SPRINGS, South Africa (AP) — Hundreds of miners who spent three days underground as part of a union dispute are leaving a gold mine in South Africa. A mine official said 109 miners who were held against their will by fellow employees in the mine near Johannesburg escaped earlier Wednesday. The union at the center of the standoff says all of the more than 550 workers who had been in the mind since late Sunday are coming out. The union says the miners had stayed underground willingly as a protest in support of the union. It denies anyone was held unwillingly despite police and mine officials calling it a “hostage” situation.