DOUBLE FATALITY: Two dead at Vale’s Stobie mine

ONTARIO - Two underground miners in Vale's Stobie nickel mine in Sudbury were killed at about 10 pm Wednesday in an unscheduled run of muck. They were working at an ore pass about 900 metres below surface.

The rest of the underground crew was uninjured, and the Stobie mine was temporarily shut down. The mine rescue team pronounced the two men dead at the scene.

"This is a devastating loss and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families, friends and co-workers of these employees," Jon Treen, general manager for Vale's Ontario Operations, said in a statement provided by the company. "We are all feeling this loss very deeply and will be concentrating our efforts on understanding exactly what occurred so that we can do everything we can to prevent this kind of incident from ever happening again."

Treen said one of the workers had 11 years of experience at the company, while another had been there for six years.

The workers' immediate families have been notified, but their names were being withheld for the time being, the company said.

Vale has supplied counsellors to help the men's families, friends and co-workers deal with their loss. The incident will be investigated by the company, the Greater Sudbury Police Services, the Ontario Ministry of Labour, and United Steelworks Local 6500.