Illegal gold miners resorted to CANNIBALISM gorging on legs, arms & ribs while sealed underground during police siege
Illegal gold miners resorted to CANNIBALISM gorging on legs, arms & ribs while sealed underground during police siege
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SURVIVORS who were trapped in one of the deepest gold mines in South Africa have spoken out about turning to cannibalism to survive. The illegal gold miners had been trapped in the abandoned Buffelsfontein Gold Mine, 150km from Johannesburg. Hundreds of men were trapped nearly a mile underground for nine months during a standoff with police, which saw some hack off the limbs of their colleagues for sustenance.
![[Rescued illegal gold miner on a stretcher.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2025-south-african-court-ordered-963682996.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Rescuers found 78 bodies and pulled 246 survivors from the depths of the shaft last week, two of whom have spoken out about the desperate measures they took to survive. Speaking to The Telegraph, two weak survivors quietly revealed that many of the men turned to cannibalism to not die of starvation.
![[Rescued miners escorted by police.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2025-south-african-court-ordered-963683037_46fc50.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
One said that police prevented their access to food and water, and that some of his fellow miners "resorted to cannibalism.". The man who refused to be named said: "They cut parts of legs, arms, and ribs for sustenance. "They decided it was their only remaining option for survival.".
![[Rescued miner being assisted by emergency personnel.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/miner-assisted-rescue-workers-rescued-963701396.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
While the survivor said he himself did not resort to such a taboo act for survival, he and another survivor said that they had to eat cockroaches. A rescuer who spoke to the BBC revealed more about the horrific conditions underground that mean he will no longer eat meat.
![[Map showing the location of the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine in South Africa, where rescuers pulled bodies and survivors from a mine shaft.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/JB_27_01_SOUTH-AFRICAN-MILE_MAP.jpg?strip=all&w=705)
