DHAKA: A 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit central South Africa on Tuesday, killing at least one man and trapping some miners underground, according to emergency services.

The US Geological Survey said the tremor was centred in Orkney, a town around 120 km southwest of Johannesburg, an area with a high concentration of deep gold mines.

‘One of the buildings collapsed on a man believed to be in his 30s ... by the time paramedics arrived there was nothing they could do for him,’ Werner Vermaak, spokesman for emergency service provider ER24, told local television, reports The Straits Times.

‘I have since been alerted to mines in the local area where they have received reports of various miners trapped,’ Vermaak added, without giving any figures.

BDST: 2042 HRS, AUG 05, 2014