Why hundreds of miners are still trapped and fear they will starve to death in an abandoned mine in South Africa

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African authorities have faced scrutiny for their response after civic groups said hundreds of miners were killed. stuck at the bottom of an abandoned gold mine for months, with more than 100 of them would have died hunger or dehydration.

Authorities launched an operation in November to evict the men who were illegally mining the closed Buffelsfontein gold mine by cutting off their food and water supplies from the surface for a period of time. The police say the minors can go out but refuse for fear of being arrested.

But groups representing the miners dispute that claim and say they are trapped up to 2.5 kilometers below the surface in one of the country’s deepest mines and that a proper rescue operation should have started there months old.

One group says more than 100 people have died and 500 others remain trapped, many sick and starving.

How long have they been underground?

It is unclear how long the miners have been underground near the town of Stilfontein, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) southwest of Johannesburg. But it is certain that they have been there since at least November, when the police first tried to evict them. Some members of the local community say their loved ones have been in the mine for almost six months, since July.

Illegal mining is common in parts of South Africa rich in gold, where companies close mines that are no longer profitable, letting informal miners enter illegally to try to find remaining deposits. Large groups often spend months underground to maximize their profits, taking with them food, water, generators and other equipment, but also relying on others above ground to bring in more supplies.

What did the authorities do?

Police tried to force the miners out last year by cutting off their supplies and dismantling the ropes they used to descend into the mine as well as a pulley system used for supplies. A minister said the aim was to “make them disappear” and that the government I won’t send help because they were “criminals”.

This tactic is now heavily criticized by rights groups. Some of them won a court case in December, forcing police and provincial authorities to allow food, water and medicine to be sent to the miners again. But they say supplies aren’t enough for all those trapped.

Some minors have appeared in the last two months and have been arrested. Police say this shows she can get out. But a spokesperson for the group Mining Affected Communities United in Action, which represents miners and their families, said the miners who managed to escape took a perilous, days-long journey underground to another shaft , and that many are too weak to do so.

The police operation in Stilfontein last year was part of a nationwide crackdown on mining gangs known as “zama zamas”, or scammers in the Zulu language, which have long been a problem in South Africa. The government estimates that there are about 6,000 abandoned mines and that nearly $1 billion in revenue is lost each year to illicit mining.

What is happening now?

A community-led rescue effort began removing survivors and bodies from the Buffelsfontein mine on Friday, while authorities began official rescue and recovery efforts on Monday using a cage lowered into the mine.

More than 20 bodies were found and more than 30 survivors were evacuated, police said.

But it could take weeks to rescue the survivors and get all the bodies out, as the cage can accommodate fewer than 10 people. Authorities also said no official rescue personnel would descend into the mine because it is extremely dangerous. A community volunteer who is familiar with the mine sits in the cage as it is placed deep underground.

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AP Africa News: https://apnews.com/hub/africa