They experienced such hell that at least nine other illegal miners lost their lives. This Monday, a mine rescue company sent a large cage to rescue 26 miners at this site located near Stilfontein, about 140 km southwest of Johannesburg.
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It is not known how many people are still in this nearly two kilometer deep gold pit, but the police, who have been carrying out an operation since November to dislodge illegal miners, have indicated that there could be several hundred.
“They are almost dying”
Thousands of illegal miners, often from other countries and called “zama zamas” (“those who try” in Zulu), are believed to be working in abandoned mine shafts across mineral-rich South Africa. Johannes Qankase, a community leader, said 26 people had been rescued and nine bodies found in the well the day before. “They are very sick and very dehydrated. You can see, they are almost dying,” he said of those rescued.
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Most of them were taken to hospital and two were reportedly taken into custody, Johannes Qankase said, as rescue operations continued. For months, access to this mine has been sealed off as part of the police operation.
Authorities have been accused of trying to force the miners to the surface of what resembled a small underground city by reducing food and water supplies brought to them by the local community since early November. lived in the informal economy around the mine.
Several hundred people still in the mine
The government said more than 1,000 people involved in illegal mining activities in the area have come back and been apprehended so far. As of mid-November, some local sources claimed that up to 4,000 people were underground, but police said there were probably a few hundred.
Six bodies were brought out of the mine in early December and one in November. Some local sources spoke of more than 100 corpses underground. In recent weeks, miners who have emerged from the shaft have reported acute hunger and dehydration underground. Some were arrested for not having the official documents allowing them to be in the country.
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