About 540 miners at a gold mine in South Africa have been underground since Sunday following a dispute over between two unions, local media report.
The workers at Gold One International Ltd’s Modder East mine located in the eastern side of South Africa's commercial hub, Johannesburg, were being held "hostage" allegedly by members of the rival Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), the company's spokesperson is quoted as saying.
But AMCU's general secretary, Jeffrey Mphahlele, has denied the claims, saying the workers were staging a sit in to push for recognition of their union.
"The mine employs 1,870 employees. Out of that number 1,700 are our members. This is a heavy tactic by management to refuse AMCU organisational rights," Mphahlele told public broadcaster SABC.
However, a rival organisation, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said those stuck underground were its members.
NUM statement said: "NUM calls for the law enforcement agencies in South Africa to intervene and go underground and arrest the hooligans who are holding our members against their will."
Security has been tightened at the mine since Tuesday morning.
