Are hundreds of South African miners dead, trapped underground? – First post

The Buffelsfontein gold mine in South Africa has become the center of the storm.

Civil organizations say at least 100 miners have died in the abandoned gold mine and hundreds of others remain trapped deep underground.

Authorities say the men can leave at any time for fear of arrest.

Let’s take a closer look:

What do we know?

Both sides stick to their versions.

Groups representing miners say they are trapped deep underground in one of the deepest mines in South Africa. They claim that the actual rescue operation should have started several months ago.

They claim that 100 people died of starvation or dehydration and 500 others remain trapped

Authorities say the men were illegally mining gold at the Buffelsfontein gold mine and tried to force them to leave by cutting off their food and water.

They say men can just walk out of the mine.

It is unclear how long the miners were underground near the town of Stilfontein, about 150 kilometers southwest of Johannesburg. What is certain, however, is that they have been there since at least November, when the police first tried to drive them out. Some community members say their loved ones were trapped for almost six months starting in July.

Illegal mining is common in gold-rich parts of South Africa, where companies close mines that are no longer profitable, forcing informal miners to enter them illegally to find remaining deposits.

Large groups often go underground for months to maximize their profits, taking with them food, water, generators and other equipment, but also relying on others on the surface to send more supplies.

What are the authorities doing?

Last year, police tried to force miners to leave the mine by cutting off their supplies and dismantling the ropes they used to descend into the mine as well as the pulleys they used for supplies. A cabinet minister said the aim was to “burn them out” and the government would not send help because they were “criminals”.

This tactic is now heavily criticized by human rights groups. Some of them won a court case in December, forcing the police and provincial authorities to send food, water and medicine to the miners again. However, they claim that supplies will not be enough for all those imprisoned.

Some miners have come forward in the last two months and have been arrested. Police say this shows they can leave. But a spokesman for the group Mining Affected Communities United in Action, which represents miners and their families, said the miners who managed to escape made the treacherous, day-long journey underground to another shaft, with many of them too weak to make it.

Last year’s police operation in Stilfontein was part of a nationwide crackdown on mining gangs known as “zama zamas”, or Zulu-language hustlers, which have long been a problem in South Africa. The government estimates that there are approximately 6,000 abandoned mines, and illegal mining causes an annual loss of revenue of approximately $1 billion.

What about recent events?

On Friday, a community-led rescue operation began recovering survivors and bodies from the Buffelsfontein mine, while authorities began an official rescue and recovery operation using a cage lowered into the mine.

Police said more than 20 bodies were recovered and more than 30 survivors were brought outside.

However, rescuing survivors and recovering bodies could take weeks because the cage can fit fewer than 10 people. Authorities also stated that no official rescue personnel would descend into the mine because it was extremely dangerous.

A community volunteer who knows the mine tends to a cage that was dropped deep underground_._

With agency input