Friday, February 18, 2005; 2:24 PM
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Feb. 18 -- International health officials warned on Friday that 61 miners in eastern Congo have died and hundreds have become ill from what appears to be the largest outbreak in several decades of a highly virulent, airborne version of plague.
Health officials said thousands more workers have fled the open-pit diamond mine that is the epicenter of the outbreak, possibly spreading the disease deep into a rural province with few health facilities.