TWELVE miners died in an underground explosion at a gold mine in South Africa’s central Free State province on Tuesday, the Goldfields company announced. The explosion, about 850 metres below the surface, occurred at 9:30 am when 4_000 miners were underground. Two people were injured, one of whom was in a critical condition, said mine representative Charmaine Russell. All the other miners were accounted for by early evening after a head-count, she said. Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka told the National Assembly that the blast appeared to have been a methane gas explosion. – AFP