South African police ended a rescue operation at an abandoned gold mine on Wednesday and said they believe they have brought out all the survivors and retrieved all the bodies after hundreds of miners were trapped for months in one of the country's deepest mines while working illegally.
At least 78 miners were confirmed dead, police said, and 246 survivors had been rescued. The victims were suspected to have died of starvation or dehydration, civic groups said, although no cause of death has been released for any of them.
The death toll is likely higher, as a community group reported retrieving nine bodies before the police operation started. There have also been reports of an unconfirmed number of bodies and survivors being brought out sporadically during other community-led rescue efforts since last year.
The surprise announcement ending the operation came a day after the police minister said it would likely last until at least next week.
Final sweep
Rescuers would do a final sweep of the mine on Thursday, said Maj.-Gen. Patrick Asaneng, the acting police commissioner for North West province.
The announcement brought a sudden end to a disaster that has focused criticism on the South African government’s decision last year to try to force out the miners by cutting off their food and other supplies.
Civic groups say the government's refusal to stage a rescue sooner effectively left the miners to die of starvation or dehydration. It was unclear exactly how long the miners were underground for, but Asaneng said some of them had been in the mine since August. Relatives said others had been there since July.
Some of the survivors were badly emaciated and barely able to walk and had to be helped into ambulances. All of them would be arrested and charged with illegal mining and trespassing, police said.
South Africa's second biggest political party, which is part of a government coalition, has called for an independent inquiry to find out “why the situation was allowed to get so badly out of hand.”
Court orders
Authorities launched the rescue effort on Monday in response to a court order last week ordering them to do so.
A specialist mining rescue company had been dropping a small cage thousands of meters down a shaft to retrieve survivors and bodies. But no personnel from the company went down because they considered it too dangerous — instead two community volunteers were in the cage to help the miners out.
Those two volunteers had searched underground Wednesday and reported there were no more bodies or survivors, Asaneng said.
The mine is 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) deep with multiple shafts, many levels and a maze of tunnels. Another civic group had estimated that more than 500 miners were underground when the rescue started. Police brought out 324 bodies and survivors in total.
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