Fifteen men are reportedly trapped in an underground New Zealand gold mine following a fire, a newspaper reports.

The New Zealand Herald reports that a truck engine caught fire early Tuesday at a gold mine in the North Island town of Waihi.

Initially, 28 men were trapped underground but by mid-morning, 13 had been rescued. The remaining 15 men were taking refuge in an underground safety chamber at the Newmont Waihi Gold mine, the newspaper reported.

Mine officials had been in contact with all the trapped men, the Herald reported, and the fire had been put out. Fires in gold mines generally don't pose the same threat as they do in coal mines, where volatile methane gas is often present.