Death toll at illegal S.African mine reaches 78

Death toll at illegal S.African mine reaches 78

Rescuers pulled more bodies from a disused gold shaft in South Africa where the death toll climbed to 78 Wednesday as police finished clearing out illegal miners who had been underground for months.

Authorities began trying to remove the bodies and bring up survivors on Monday, after residents voiced fears that more than 100 people may have died in the mine in Stilfontein, about 140 kilometres (90 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.

At least 246 people have emerged alive in the first three days of the operation while 78 bodies were retrieved, police said in a statement, with the rescuers expecting to wrap up their efforts on Thursday.

The South African authorities have been locked in a months-long standoff with the holed-up miners, having at one point tried cutting off food and water supplies to force them out.

That strategy has seen the police accused of causing the death of some of the miners, called "zama zamas" -- "those who try" in the Zulu language. They are often migrants from neighbouring countries, accused by residents of criminality.

"No one blocked any shaft. No one blocked anyone from getting out," said police spokeswoman Athlenda Mathe.

"But by providing food, water and necessities to these illegal miners, it would be the police entertaining and allowing criminality to thrive," Mathe added.

All 84 of the miners rescued on Wednesday were arrested, police said.

- Dozens of corpses -

The mine runs 2.6 kilometres underground and a specialised machine was brought in Monday to lift out the miners and the bodies, a handful of people at a time.

Of the miners taken out of the shaft, only five were South African, northwest provincial police chief Patrick Asaneng told a press conference in Stilfontein late on Tuesday.

The rest included 128 Mozambicans, 80 from Lesotho and 33 Zimbabweans.

Two volunteers "have combed the underground, and according to them, they can confirm that there are no longer corpses or alive persons underground," Asaneng added.

Police had voiced fears that hundreds more could remain underground.

But on a visit to the site earlier Tuesday, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu declined to estimate how many might be there.

"Every number that we have here is an estimate," he said.

A video sent to AFP on Monday by Macua, a group that advocates for the miners, appeared to show dozens of corpses wrapped in cloth in the mine chambers.

"We will go and check again tomorrow just to make 100 percent sure that we haven't left any persons behind," Mine Rescue Service chief Mannas Fourie told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.

- Gold, explosives confiscated -

Illegal miners had taken over the shaft that was once part of South Africa's vast mining industry. 

No longer viable for commercial mining, the men entered illicitly, hoping to ease their poverty by finding remnants of gold.

Minerals Minister Gwede Mantashe, on a visit to the site Tuesday, called the miners "foot soldiers" for those who really profit from the illegal trade.

More than 1,500 illegal miners have been arrested at Stilfontein since August, when authorities first started to remove them. South Africa has deported 121 of them, police said.

Another 46 people have been convicted of illegal mining, trespassing and immigration offences, police said. They face fines or prison terms.

Police also confiscated a trove of gold, explosives and firearms. 

A court ordered in November that police end all restrictions at the shaft, allowing people above ground to resume lowering food and water to those below.

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Originally published as Death toll at illegal S.African mine reaches 78