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First Posted: 5/14/2013

(AP) Police say dozens of workers are trapped underground after a tunnel caved in at a giant U.S.-owned gold and copper mine in Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua.


Papua police spokesman Lt. Col. Gede Sumerta Jaya says the accident happened Tuesday morning at the Grasberg mine in Mimika district. A search was underway, but the fate of up to 30 trapped workers remained unclear, he said.


The mine is owned by Phoenix, Arizona-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. A written statement from PT Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary that runs the mine, said a tunnel in the underground training area collapsed. It did not how many workers were involved, or whether there were injuries or fatalities.


The province holds some of the world’s largest gold and copper reserves.


Associated Press