60 bodies and 106 people have been rescued alive from a gold mine in the North West Province of South Africa. The police said that after two days of efforts, the illegal miners called 'Jama Jamas' were rescued.
After two days of efforts, 106 people were rescued alive on Wednesday and detained for illegal mining. It has been confirmed that 51 people died in the mine,' said the police in a statement. According to the police, the bodies of 9 people were recovered on Tuesday. CNN has reported that at least 109 people have died.
The police said that it is not certain how many people are inside the mine. A mine near Stilfontein, 140 kilometers south-west of Johannesburg, has also been prospected by people from several neighboring countries in the hope of finding remnants of gold.
The police started operations to clear the mine from last August . After that, 1 thousand 576 people left the mine, according to the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy.
Then the authorities stopped the supply of food and water to the mine . But last November, the court ordered not to stop the supply of food and water to the mines. The court ordered the rescue of those in the mine last week. Soon after the
, the police said that they could not help the estimated 4,000 miners inside the mine. Presidency Minister Khumbudzo said that the government will not support the illegal miners as they are involved in criminal activities. The police said that the operation of rescuing the survivors and removing the bodies from the mine, which has a tunnel with a length of more than 2 kilometers, will continue for a few days.
Minister of Minerals Gwede Mantase visited the scene on Tuesday . He says that people put their lives at risk and work for others. 'Those who earn money from gold mining should take responsibility for the lives of gold seekers,' he said.
South Africa, home to the world's deepest gold mines, was once the world's largest gold producer. But in the last few decades, South Africa's gold production has been declining. Many of the former mines have now been abandoned and are now in disrepair.
That's why those mines are considered extremely risky . But in search of gold, thousands of people enter the mine illegally. Most of them come from neighboring countries Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho, according to South African officials. According to
officials, illegal mining has recently been dominated by those involved in violent crimes like murder, robbery and rape. At least 31 people died after a methane gas explosion at a closed mine in the Free State province in June last year.
