Fifteen bodies brought to surface amid claims 109 are dead and between 400 and 800 people still alive and trapped. Fifteen bodies have been brought out of an illegal goldmine in South Africa and 44 people have been taken out alive since Monday, after police blocked supplies of food, water and medicine to the workers underground in October in an attempt to force them out.
On Thursday, a letter brought up to the surface claimed there were 109 dead bodies underground. A video circulated by the NGO Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) appeared to show more than 50 wrapped bodies laid out in a tunnel. Another video showed emaciated men begging to be sent food and rescued. Macua claimed there were between 400 and 800 people still alive and trapped underground at the Buffelsfontein mine near Stilfontein, about 100 miles south-west of Johannesburg.
Police launched Operation Vala Umgodi (plug the hole) in late 2023 in an effort to stamp out illegal mining. In early November, they said their prevention of essential supplies being sent down the mineshafts around Stilfontein had forced hundreds of miners to the surface since mid-October “as a result of starvation and dehydration”. Later in November and December, they allowed some supplies to be sent down.
South African authorities have repeatedly argued the miners were free to resurface and that those who remained underground were trying to avoid arrest, pointing to more than 1,500 people who have emerged from another mineshaft in the area. Activists claimed the two mines were not connected underground.
