South African emergency workers are racing against time to rescue trapped illegal miners underground after several bodies from mine shafts were recovered.
This week, six bodies were recovered from an abandoned mine in the town of Stilfontein in South Africa, where hundreds of clandestine miners are still underground, a community leader told AFP on Wednesday.
Those rescued alive say they are being forced to mine gold underground by heavily armed men often referred to as "zama zamas," which means "take a chance" in Zulu.
South African authorities are aware of the activities of the Zama Zamas.
Armed rival gangs
In May last year, four illegal miners died after a fight broke out between armed rival gangs at the Transvaal Gold Mining Estate in Dientjie in Mpumalanga, authorities said in February.
Some of those rescued in the latest incident on Wednesday say the gangs have refused to let them leave the mines even as health conditions underground deteriorated, state broadcaster SABC reports.
"Six bodies were retrieved in two days, four today and two yesterday," said Johannes Qankase, a spokesperson for the nearby township of Khuma, where most of the miners live.
South African authorities say the rescue mission at the mine shaft in Sabie, Mpumalanga, will resume on Thursday morning after two bodies of miners were also retrieved.
Seven other miners were also brought to the surface and were given treatment. One had a broken arm, with authorities adding at least 106 miners remaining underground.
'Refusing to emerge'
In November, during the Stilfontein standoff, when illegal miners refused to emerge after orders by police to do so, authorities said they were cautious in entering the mine to make arrests as some of those underground may be armed.
Provincial Police Spokesperson Donald Mdhluli says intelligence puts the number of illegal miners that are still underground at approximately 150.
“According to the information, there are still about 150 of them that are trapped, and they desperately need to come up, but they’re unable to. So, hence this operation that has started to make sure that we bring them on board," Mdhluli told local media
The South African government warns that illegal mining has made a considerable dent in the economy.
In November last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the deployment of 3,300 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) personnel to support SAPS in their fight against illegal mining.
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