Seventeen South African gold miners trapped a mile underground

The company said it had made contact with eight miners, who had managed to flee to a refuge bay at a depth 1,700 metres. The whereabouts of the remaining nine miners was unknown, a company spokesman said.

Rescue teams had been sent underground but access to the affected area has being hampered by smoke and a subsequent rock-fall, the spokesman added.

South Africa's gold mines are among the deepest in the world.

(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Ed Cropley)