Until 5pm on Wednesday four of 39 workers trapped in the underground facility had been found dead while 10 others wounded, president director, Rozik B Soetjipto, said in a press statement received here on Wednesday.
"Twenty-five others are still unaccounted for and efforts are still being made to find them," he said.
Rozik said the company had sent 200 rescuers to the scene in an effort to find the rest of the victims, from contractors, geo-technical staff as well as local administrations concerned.
He said the 39 workers were conducting training in the facility when the incident happened.
He said the location of the incident was close to office and training rooms, far away from the area of active mining activities.
"On Tuesday at 7.30am while the workers were gathering in a training room parts of the tunnel in the area collapsed," he said.
After the incident Freeport immediately conducted rescue efforts but the efforts had been hindered because the room was small and there were risks of further collapse.
"They have to use light equipment such as saws, stone crushers and also work manually," he said.
By 3.50pm the rescue team was able to evacuate 10 people safely and four bodies.
The wounded victims have been taken to the company hospital in Tembagapura and their conditions have been stable while another one has been flown to Jakarta for further treatment on Wednesday morning.
"Five others would be flown to Jakarta on Thursday," he added.
Rozik said until now the company along with mining inspectors from the central and regional governments are still investigating the cause of the collapse.
He said the company has asked the team to inspect the whole underground structure to check its safety.
"This is only a preventive measure as we have so far always conducted periodic checks," he said.
reporting by kelik dewanto
(H-YH/S012)
Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
