Senior Indonesia mine staff suspended over deadly accident
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Buy SPH photosTIMIKA, Indonesia (AFP) - Four senior employees of a US mining company accused by unions of being at fault over a deadly Indonesian mine accident have been suspended after workers threatened to strike, the firm said on Friday.
Unions at Freeport-McMoRan's Grasberg, a huge gold and copper mine in eastern Papua province, called off a strike that had been due to begin on Friday after the employees - who included three foreigners - were suspended.
They had demanded the move, accusing the staff members of being at fault over the May 14 tunnel collapse at Grasberg which left 28 people dead.
A strike would have been another blow to the troubled operation after production was suspended pending the outcome of a probe into the accident. A previous strike in 2011 lasted three months and crippled production.
