According to the information reported by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), hundreds of South African mine workers:

a) died after they were entombed by fire while working in a gold mine.
b) had to fight an underground fire before they were sent to nearby burn centers.
c) were able to leave a mine after an underground fire started but a lot of them suffered from breathing in smoke.
d) underwent serious health problems and as a consequence were incapable of continuing working inside gold mines.
e) got lost after a fire began violently at a gold mine in Johannesburg.