AT LEAST 100 illegal miners have died after becoming trapped in a South African gold mine for months on end.
They had been in a long standoff with cops who cut off their water, food and supplies in a bid to “smoke them out”.
Police officers and private security personnel stand by the opening of a reformed gold mineshaft where illegal miners are trapped in Stilfontein, South Africa[/caption]
Officials have said that at least 100 illegal miners have died[/caption]
Members of the SAPS (South African Police Services) and rescue services are seen near the entrance to the disused gold mine[/caption]
The miners are suspected to have died of dehydration or starvation, said Sabelo Mnguni, a spokesman for the Mining Affected Communities United in Action Group (MACUA).
Some 18 bodies have been brought out of the abandoned mine in northwestern town of Stilfontein since Friday.
But some 500 more are still trapped inside after being stuck underground for nine months.
Footage from a mobile phone sent to the surface with some of the rescued miners on Friday included videos of dozens of bodies wrapped in plastic, the spokesman added.
The first reportedly shows piles of miners’ bodies wrapped in sacks and plastic, while living miners who are still stuck underground pleaded for help.
A second video showed shirtless miners looking emaciated, with their ribs protruding.
MACUA spokesperson Magnificent Mndebele said there are hundreds of miners still waiting to be rescued two months after a standoff with South African police.
Since November, authorities have attempted to force workers out and close the mine, resulting in a stalemate between police and miners.
Cops said they blocked miners’ supplies of food and water to force them out and arrest them for illegally entering the abandoned mine in search of leftover gold – part of a crackdown on illegal mining that has plagued South Africa for decades.
Cabinet minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni previously said: “We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out.
“They will come out. Criminals are not to be helped; criminals are to be prosecuted. We didn’t send them there.”
Mndebele said someone had destroyed a pulley system which was used for lowering supplies to the miners, – and enabling them to get out, but MACUA restored it on Thursday.
“The shaft is two kilometres deep. It’s impossible for people to climb up,” Mndebele said.
South African authorities are currently at the mine with machinery, preparing for a planned rescue this week, a police spokesman confirmed.
“The pulley system was put in place by community members, but it has been replaced with machinery used by mine rescue services,” he said.
“The mine rescue services were contracted by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.”
Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone, a police spokesperson, said they were still confirming information on how many bodies had been retrieved and how many survivors had been brought out since the fresh rescue operation began on Monday.
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