Vaal Reefs 1995
104 miners died in one of South Africa's largest gold mines when the cables controlling an underground train snapped, sending the cars hurtling down a 7,000-foot vertical shaft onto an elevator.
The victims were in the two-story elevator, which was crushed by the falling train as it rose to bring workers to the surface at the end of their shift.
In a country with a history of mining disasters, the accident at the Anglo-American Corporation's Vaal Reefs Mine near Orkney, 95 miles southwest of Johannesburg, ranks as one of the worst.
This accident claimed the lives of 104 people.