One dead, 29 rescued after gold mine collapse in Australia

One man has died and another has been seriously injured after rocks collapsed at a gold mine in Ballarat, Australia, on Thursday.

Authorities were called to the Ballarat Gold Mine, around 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of Melbourne, on Wednesday night after reports of a rockfall.

"Two people were pinned by fallen rocks while 28 workers were able to take refuge in a safety pod," Victoria Police said in a statement.

One of the pinned miners was airlifted to hospital in a serious condition while the body of the other, a 37-year-old man, was recovered on Thursday morning.

'A community built on gold'

The mayor of Ballarat, a storied mining town, said the incident would "ripple through the Ballarat Gold Mine organization for days, weeks and months."

"Not just through the recovery phase, but also through the investigation into what happened," Des Hudson told the AFP news agency.

"We are a community built on gold. Gold still has a significant role to play in Ballarat."

The Ballarat Gold Mine itself did not immediately comment on the incident.

The mine had caved in once before, trapping 27 miners underground in 2007. All were freed after a five-hour rescue operation, reports DW.