17 Miners Stucks in NY Salt Mine

LANSING, N.Y. (AP) -- Seventeen miners are stuck in an elevator 900 feet underground at a central New York salt mine and emergency crews are working on a rescue.

Cargill Inc. spokesman Mark Klein says the miners got stuck around 10 p.m. Wednesday while descending to the floor of the company's 2,300-foot-deep mine in Lansing, about 40 miles outside Syracuse.

Klein says emergency rescue crews and equipment are on the scene and the miners aren't in danger. He says emergency officials are able to communicate with the miners via radio.

A crane has been brought to the scene and will be used to hoist the miners to the surface in a basket. Klein says he doesn't know how long the rescue operation will take.

The mine operated by Minneapolis-based Cargill produces road salt that's shipped throughout the northeast.

(KA)