Two workers of gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) are still missing following a mudflow on Wednesday afternoon at the company’s Grasberg mining site in Papua.

Two other workers were injured and were currently hospitalized, according to PTFI.

PTFI spokesperson Riza Pratama said via text message on Thursday that the company had deployed a rescue team to locate the two workers and another team to investigate the incident.

“The team is continuing to search for the missing workers, while two injured workers were rescued on Wednesday afternoon,” he said.

The mudflow occurred in the Ore Bin 6 area while workers were operating machinery.

Riza gave an assurance the incident would not hamper PTFI’s operations.

Separately, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Mineral and Coal Director General Bambang Gatot Ariyono said that mudflows frequently occurred at mining sites.

“Mudflows are a common incident [at mining sites]. They happen frequently.” he said, adding that the incident would not affect PTFI’s entire operations. (bbn)