World

SYDNEY — Search teams pulled a body from the rubble of a collapsed Australian gold mine on Thursday, after a major rescue operation earlier freed 29 workers trapped underground.

A crew of 30 miners was working deep inside the Ballarat Gold Mine in the state of Victoria when it caved in on Wednesday evening.

While 29 of the workers were rescued within hours, a 37-year-old man was helplessly pinned by the tumbling rocks.

Emergency services toiled through the night to dig the man from the debris, some 3 kilometres from the mine entrance.

His body was eventually pulled from the mine on Thursday morning.

Union officials have raised questions about the mine’s safety record — it collapsed in 2007 when owned by another company — and the site’s current owner now faces a major workplace safety probe.

“My inspectors and investigators have been on site since last night,” said Narelle Beer, executive director of the state’s workplace safety regulator WorkSafe Victoria.

“It will be a complex, detailed investigation. And we’re very keen to understand how we can ensure that a tragedy like this never occurs again.”

Australian Workers Union state secretary Ronnie Hayden said the collapse was “devastating”.

“But it’s even more devastating because this should have been avoided.”

Hayden said the union would push state authorities to pursue a case under “industrial manslaughter” legislation.

“Our members are angry. Our organisers are angry,” he said.

Union members had raised concerns about the mine’s use of “air legging”, a form of two-person manual drilling, the union boss said.

“It seems to have fallen on deaf ears.”

‘Built on gold’ 

Ballarat Mayor Des Hudson said the incident would “ripple through the Ballarat Gold Mine organisation for days, weeks and months”.

“Not just through the recovery phase, but also through the investigation into what happened,” he told AFP.

“We are a community built on gold. Gold still has a significant role to play in Ballarat.”

Victoria police said the “rockfall” at the mine also injured a 21-year-old man, who was airlifted to hospital in a “serious condition”.

Twenty-eight workers took refuge in a safety pod, they said.

Ballarat Gold Mine told AFP on Thursday morning that it had “no statement at this time”.

Police confirmed on Thursday the mine was cooperating with their investigation.

Gold rush 

The Australian Workers Union raised safety concerns in 2021 under the mine’s previous operator, an Australian subsidiary of Singapore-listed Shen Yao Holdings.

An investigation by WorkSafe Victoria revealed flaws in the mine’s safety plan and said that serious injury or fatalities could occur if emergency services relied on those plans for rescues.

The mine’s 2007 cave-in saw 27 workers trapped underground — but all were freed without injury after a five-hour rescue operation.

Victory Minerals took ownership of the gold mine in December 2023 and now employs about 200 people.

Ballarat, about two hours’ drive west of state capital Melbourne, sits at the centre of one of Australia’s most famous gold mining regions.

The precious metal was found near the town in 1851, sparking a frenzied gold rush that would last for decades.

Victoria produces about 30 per cent of all the gold mined in Australia, and almost 2 per cent of global stocks every year.

Studies have found Australia’s mining sector is one of the safest in the world — although it is still one of the country’s deadliest industries.

MADRID — Efforts to deliver aid to war-torn Gaza by constructing a seaport or through airdrops are a sign of international powerlessness to tend the conflict, the head of Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

Gaza is suffering a severe humanitarian crisis as Israel's war on Hamas drags on, with the United Nations warning of looming famine as the flow of aid trucks from Egypt has slowed.

With only a small fraction of the basic supplies needed to sustain Gaza's 2.4 million people coming in by land, foreign governments have turned to airdrops and a maritime corridor from Cyprus.

But Agnes Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general, said nobody was holding Israel to account over the delays to deliveries by land.

"The international community must be prepared to hold Israel to account... We're not holding the stick that will allow for those violations to stop," she said in Madrid.

"So the airdrops, the construction of a port, are a sign of powerlessness and weakness on the part of the international community."

Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden said Washington was planning to establish a temporary port for aid deliveries to Gaza, which the Pentagon said would take up to 60 days and involve 1,000 US personnel.

But Callamard said it was a "huge concern" that the international community seemed to have accepted that the deadly conflict would drag on for another two months.

"A huge concern is that the proposed investment into building a port and transporting humanitarian assistance via sea appears to indicate that the international community... are expecting the situation to last. Why are you making an investment that is going to take two months?" she said.

"That is extremely worrisome. More than 30,000 people have died."

The war began with Hamas' October 7 sudden attack that resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 31,272 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

SANHE, China — A huge suspected gas explosion at a restaurant in northern China killed two people and injured 26 more on Wednesday, state media reported, causing severe damage to buildings.

The blast occurred just before 8:00am (00:00 GMT), state broadcaster CCTV said, in a residential area in the city of Sanhe, Hebei province, less than 50 kilometres east of the centre of Beijing.

Footage online circulated by state media showed a huge explosion that sent plumes of smoke and fire across a busy road.

CCTV reported Wednesday afternoon that two people had since died, 26 were injured and the fire had been extinguished.

The explosion was suspected to have been caused by a gas leak at a fried chicken shop, state media reported.

Two large buildings were completely destroyed in the blast, footage shared by the broadcaster showed, with rescue teams seen hauling away a car hit by the explosion.

Rescue workers can also be seen carrying away a large gas canister.

Residents told AFP journalists they had heard a loud explosion before rushing outside to see a plume of smoke rising into the morning air.

“I heard a great big bang... which scared me stiff,” a seller at a local market told AFP.

“Outside, I saw clouds of black smoke,” they added.

Another seller said they also heard a “huge bang” from the blast site, in a bustling area of squat apartment blocks about six or seven floors high.

“The noise was too loud,” a vendor surnamed Wang told AFP, adding she had heard a “second explosion”.

A local man said he did not see the explosion, but when he reached the scene, there was still thick smoke.

Near the scene of the blast, an AFP team observed police waving oncoming traffic away from an entrance to the neighbourhood where the explosion occurred.

From a police cordon of the blast zone, journalists could see a tower of grey smoke a few hundred metres away.

‘Destroyed’ 

The blast blew out shop facades, footage shared on video-sharing site Douyin showed. The uploader told AFP the explosion took place 200 metres from her home.

Another social media video verified by AFP showed what appeared to be a building that had completely collapsed as well as several destroyed cars and debris strewn across the street.

The local Langfang fire department said 36 emergency vehicles and 154 personnel were dispatched to the scene.

A merchant working at a nearby store told state-run Jimu News she had been in her shop when she heard a bang.

She ran out of her store and saw a fire, she said, adding that the whole building had been “virtually destroyed”.

In a bid to prevent further accidents, a local company temporarily halted the provision of gas to 50 residential compounds and businesses in the area, state-run news outlet China National Radio said.

Explosions and other deadly accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards and poor enforcement.

A recent spate of such accidents has prompted calls from President Xi Jinping for “deep reflection” and greater efforts to stop them.

Last month, at least 15 people were killed and 44 injured in a fire at a residential building in the eastern city of Nanjing.

In January, dozens died after a fire broke out at a store in the central city of Xinyu, with state news agency Xinhua reporting the blaze had been caused by the “illegal” use of fire by workers in the store’s basement.

That fire came just days after a late-evening blaze at a school in central Henan province killed 13 schoolchildren as they slept in a dormitory.

Domestic media reports suggested the fire was caused by an electric heating device.

Last June, an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in the northwest of the country left 31 dead and prompted official pledges of a nationwide campaign to promote workplace safety.

MOSCOW — Moscow said on Tuesday its army had beaten back Ukrainian forces trying to claim territory in two Russian border regions, deploying warplanes, missiles and artillery to fend off the assaults.

The announcement came after several groups of Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine said they had crossed the border in the region of Kursk in western Russia.

The defence ministry said that Russian forces "thwarted an attempt by the Kyiv regime to make a breakthrough into the border territory of the Russian Federation in the Belgorod and Kursk regions".

It said the first attempt began at 3:00 am local time (00:00 GMT) in the Belgorod region but that the Russian military and the Federal Security Service beat back the attacks.

It claimed without providing evidence to have destroyed dozens of Ukrainian servicemen as well as several armoured vehicles.

A second attempt started approximately three hours later in the neighbouring region of Kursk, also bordering Ukraine, the defence ministry said.

"Having suffered significant losses, the enemy was driven back," the defence ministry said in its statement.

STRASBOURG, France — EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday Brussels was recommending member states open formal membership talks with Bosnia, in the latest move towards expanding the bloc in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow’s war on its neighbour has reinvigorated the EU’s drive to enlarge in eastern and central Europe, with its 27 current member states agreeing in December to start talks on joining with Ukraine and Moldova.

Balkan country Bosnia been an official candidate for membership since 2022 but needed to implement a string of major reforms before getting the green light on negotiations with the EU.

Von der Leyen told the European Parliament that Bosnia “is showing that it can deliver on its membership criteria, and on its citizens’ aspiration to be part of our family”.

“This is the reason that we will decide to recommend to the Council to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

The EU executive was to formally present its latest report on Bosnia’s progress later on Tuesday, ahead of an EU leaders’ summit next week seen as the last chance for Bosnia to open negotiations before June’s European elections.

All 27 EU member states will have to agree to the move before negotiations can be launched.

While cautioning that “more progress is necessary to join our union”, von der Leyen said that “Bosnia and Herzegovina has taken impressive steps towards us.”

“More progress has been achieved in just over a year than in over a decade,” von der Leyen told lawmakers in Strasbourg.

She said Bosnia was now “fully aligned” with the EU’s foreign and security policy, was improving its management of migration flows, and adopting laws to combat both money laundering and terrorist financing.

Russian ‘infiltration’ 

She welcomed its agreement to include in domestic criminal records the judgements of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

And she also noted further steps towards dialogue and reconciliation in the wake of the country’s 1992-1995 war, with the creation of a new peace-building committee.

“The message coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina is clear,” said von der Leyen. “So our message must be clear too. The future of Bosnia and Herzegovina lies in our union.”

Starting the talks is just the beginning of a long process of reforms usually lasting years before a country finally joins the EU.

Balkan nations North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania are already in the queue for membership.

The push for new members is part of an effort to push back against Russian and Chinese influence in the EU’s backyard.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned last week that delaying EU accession for the countries of the Western Balkans risked leaving them open to Russian “infiltration”.

Russia has maintained a close relationship with Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik.

Dodik, who received one of Russia’s highest honours from President Vladimir Putin last month, has challenged Bosnia’s post-war ruling structure over the past several months.

Dodik on social media welcomed the announcement by von der Leyen but said that it did not mean much without a firm date on when negotiations would actually start.

Dodik wrote that for Bosnian Serbs “the European path is important because it represents the achievement of a major national goal for Serbs — that of living in an economic and political area without borders”, namely with neighbouring Serbia.

BADDEREN , Norway — Finnish conscript Atte Ohman readied himself aboard a US landing ship to storm a snow-swept Norwegian beach as part of a rapid response unit pushing out an invading enemy.

"There is a saying that 'if you want to keep the peace, you need to prepare for war'," the 19-year-old corporal told AFP, clutching his automatic rifle.

"That's what we're doing."

The simulated assault on NATO's frigid Arctic fringe was part of its sprawling, four-month Steadfast Defender exercise — the largest drills staged by the US-led military alliance since the Cold War.

Swedish gunboats sped to shore, Italian paratroopers abseiled from helicopters, and French marines emerged on skis.

The message was clear — NATO is prepared to protect itself in the face of an increasingly aggressive Russia two years into the Kremlin's war on Ukraine.

Last week the alliance got even larger as Sweden became its 32nd member almost a year after its Nordic neighbour Finland joined.

"We're signalling that we are ready to defend our territories and that's very important at the same time as strengthening our capabilities to operate together," Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson told AFP, after watching tanks from his country engage in a mock battle on the Norwegian-Finnish border.

"Right now the Russian ground forces are bogged down in Ukraine, but Russia has stated high ambitions to reconstitute itself and adapt its force posture."

As Russia has begun turning the tide on outgunned Ukrainian troops, there have been warnings that Moscow could one day turn its sights on a member of the alliance.

Kyiv's western allies meanwhile have struggled to ramp up production of crucial weaponry, and support for Ukraine is wavering.

Norway's defence chief Eirik Kristoffersen said the number of Russian forces stationed near his country is currently just one fifth of the number before Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“But on the maritime side, on the air side, and on the nuclear side, they’ve kept their forces intact in our region,” he told AFP.

“You have this uncertainty about for how long they will continue to lose so much versus Ukraine and then how long will it take for them to rebuild their military.”

Arctic focus 

One increasingly crucial area of competition with Russia is the harsh Arctic region where the exercise was staged.

Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has ramped up its capabilities in the region where melting ice due to global warming looks set to open up vital shipping routes and resources.

Now with the membership of Sweden and Finland, seven of the eight Arctic countries are in NATO and the allies say they’re increasingly pushing to compete with Moscow in this vital region.

The Arctic is becoming hugely strategic and “that’s why Russia is investing here a lot, and China is also watching this area,” said Finland’s defence minister Antti Hakkanen.

“The Artic is a new focus area. We must invest in the capabilities to act here in the normal military fields but also in the intelligence side and other fields,” he added.

Rear Admiral David Patchell, deputy commander of the US Second Fleet, said a conservative estimate was that climate would open up resources worth $1 trillion in the region. At the same time, melting ice would mean the Artic would link oceans around the globe for navigation.

“We have to know how to work in the Arctic,” he told AFP.

“We’re playing catch-up but I would say we’re cognisant of Russia’s priority, and they are placing a significant priority on the Arctic.”

Testing troops and hardware from across NATO in punishing Arctic conditions is a key focus of these exericises with the alliance’s Nordic members sharing their expertise.

“It’s a very big shock to come into working conditions like this. We rarely see snow like this on a daily basis,” said US Marine Corporal Joshua Maddox, who deployed from the temperate climes of North Carolina in the southern United States.

“The biggest challenge is just the mental aspect — just being very prepared.”

The Steadfast Defender drill — which involves warships sent from the US in a sign of Washington’s commitment — comes after Donald Trump rattled the foundations of the alliance.

The former president, the Republican challenger to Joe Biden in November elections, warned last month that he would encourage Russia to attack members not meeting financial commitments.