The South African government has initiated a rescue mission at an abandoned gold mine in the North West province, where at least 109 miners have reportedly died.
The grim situation unfolded after local authorities severed essential supplies to combat the country’s pervasive illegal mining activities, according to a miners’ advocacy group.
South African police confirmed on Wednesday that 51 bodies and 106 survivors had been retrieved from the Stilfontein mine.
However, more individuals are believed to be trapped underground. Meshack Mbangula, head of the Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA), earlier estimated that around 500 miners could be stuck in the mine’s deep shafts.
“These men likely succumbed to hunger and dehydration,” Mbangula said. He described worsening conditions in shafts that extend several kilometers underground.
Footage shared by Mbangula and reviewed by CNN depicted disturbing scenes within the mine.
The videos, reportedly filmed last week, show multiple bodies wrapped in plastic and emaciated miners with visible ribs and protruding bones.
In one clip, a man speaking in Zulu pleads for help, while another asks, “How many days must we live in a situation like this?” CNN has not independently verified the videos.
A letter purportedly written by the trapped miners provides further insight into their dire circumstances.
It reads: “Please take us out. Please assist us to come out, or if not, please give us food because [there are] people who are dead. We’ve got 109 people dead, and we need plastic to wrap them because the smell is too much, we can’t stand the smell.”
Community organizations like MACUA claim they have been supporting the trapped miners for months.
Mbangula criticized law enforcement for cutting off food and essential supplies to the miners in November, describing it as a strategy to force them to surface and abandon the mine.
Athlenda Mathe, a spokesperson for South African police, defended the controversial measure at the time, stating, “We are stopping and preventing food and water to go down there as a way of forcing these illegal miners to resurface because what they are doing is criminality.”
Police indicated that miners would face arrest upon emerging.
The police’s actions sparked backlash from local groups and the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), which labeled the move “vindictive” and warned it could lead to a catastrophe.
In November, a court ordered police to resume food supplies and allow rescue teams access to the mine. The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) also launched an investigation into the police’s handling of the situation.
Amid mounting public pressure and reports of widespread fatalities, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy announced on Sunday that a rescue operation was underway.
The department emphasized that the decision to deploy rescue services was made independently and was not mandated by the court.
South Africa is home to an estimated 100,000 artisanal miners, referred to locally as “zama zamas.”
According to SAFTU, these miners often sell minerals on the black market, fueling international illicit trade networks and violent turf wars.
The country reportedly loses over $1 billion annually to illegal mining activities, as outlined in a parliamentary briefing.
Source-CNN
