In an effort to rescue survivors from among hundreds of illegal miners who had been stranded underground for months in an abandoned shaft, rescuers on Tuesday were deploying a cage-like structure into one of South Africa’s deepest mines. It is estimated that around 100 people perished from malnutrition or dehydration.
Over 500 miners are thought to still remain underground at the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine, despite the fact that at least 18 bodies and 26 survivors have been removed since Friday, according to a group that represents the miners. Although the exact number is unknown, police indicated it is probably in the hundreds.
Since authorities first began an operation to try to force the miners out in November, there has been a violent confrontation between police, miners, and members of the local community at the mine near the town of Stilfontein, southwest of Johannesburg. Some of them have reportedly been underground since last July or August.
Rights groups and activists have strongly condemned police tactics of shutting off the miners’ food and water supplies from the surface in an attempt to force them out, but authorities believe the miners are able to come out and are refusing. Because the hole is too steep and the ropes and pulley mechanism they used to access have been removed, the rights groups claim that many of the miners are essentially starving to death and are unable to climb out.
In some areas of gold-rich South Africa, illegal mining is widespread. When businesses wind down unprofitable mines, gangs of informal miners visit the area illegally in an attempt to locate any remaining reserves.
In order to optimize their earnings, large groups of illegal miners frequently spend months below. They bring food, water, generators, and other equipment with them, but they also rely on other members of their organization on the surface to send down additional supplies.
Authorities have verified that some people have been escaping from the mine since November, though it’s unclear how many. The miners fear arrest if they come out, according to the police.
The only way out, according to rights activists, is for miners to crawl out there after a perilous journey that can take days to another shaft. Many of the miners, they said, are too sick or frail to get out. According to the community mining group, there are many groups of miners in different areas of the 1.5-mile-deep mine, which has several shafts, levels, and a labyrinth of tunnels.
Two cellphone videos purportedly from underground that showed dozens of miners’ dead bodies wrapped in plastic were made public by the Mining Affected Communities United in Action group, which sued authorities in December to force them to permit the miners to receive food, water, and medication. According to a group spokesperson, at least 100 miners had perished.
A man can be heard stating, “This is hunger,” in the cellphone footage that is allegedly from the mine’s depths. He captures emaciated-looking males sitting on the mine’s moist floor, demonstrating how hunger is killing people. “Please help us,” he says. Take us out or bring us some meal.
The police and natural resources ministers of South Africa were scheduled to visit the mine on Tuesday, but the methods used by the government have drawn criticism.
In November, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the cabinet minister of South Africa, said reporters that the government would not assist the miners since they were viewed as criminals.
According to the local media, she stated, “We are not sending help to criminals.” Our plan is to burn them out. They’ll emerge.