Cape Town — Thousands of miners are being rescued from Elandsrand gold mine near Johannesburg, where they have been trapped since Wednesday morning.

About 3,200 workers were stranded more than two kilometres underground when a pipe broke and cut an electricity cable to the mine's lift. 1,550 had reportedly been brought to the surface by a secondary lift by mid-morning Thursday, but rescue efforts are still expected to continue until early afternoon as only 75 people can be brought up at a time.

There have been no reports so far of injuries or deaths, though miners have been described as "exhausted and hungry", some having been underground since Tuesday's night shift.

According to Reuters, mine owner Harmony Gold has confirmed that those underground are being pumped clean air and water.

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has accused the company of negligence. "Maintenance that should have been done, clearly was not done," said NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka. "The mine bosses are not doing enough in terms of safety. The mines should also have alternative exits, which at the moment they don't have," he added.

Harmony Gold spokesperson Amelia Soares has dismissed the allegations, saying that "regulations state that we need to have the mines inspected on a weekly basis, which we have done - in fact the last time that mine was inspected was on Saturday."