South Africa's Stilfontein mine: The blockaded shaft where dozens died

Mzwandile Mkwayi volunteered to go down into the shaft to help save the lives of scores of South African miners.

British Broadcasting CorporationWatch LiveHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthVideoLiveHomeNewsIsrael-Gaza WarWar in UkraineUS & CanadaUKUK PoliticsEnglandN. IrelandN. Ireland PoliticsScotlandScotland PoliticsWalesWales PoliticsAfricaAsiaChinaIndiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastIn PicturesBBC InDepthBBC VerifySportBusinessExecutive LoungeTechnology of BusinessFuture of BusinessInnovationTechnologyScience & HealthArtificial IntelligenceAI v the MindCultureFilm & TVMusicArt & DesignStyleBooksEntertainment NewsArtsArts in MotionTravelDestinationsAfricaAntarcticaAsiaAustralia and PacificCaribbean & BermudaCentral AmericaEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaSouth AmericaWorld’s TableCulture & ExperiencesAdventuresThe SpeciaListEarthNatural WondersWeather & ScienceClimate SolutionsSustainable BusinessGreen LivingVideoLiveLive NewsLive SportHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthVideoLiveAudioWeatherNewslettersTrapped underground with decaying bodies, miners faced a dark realityBBCVolunteers Mzwandile Mkwayi (R) and Mandla Charles (L) were greeted as heroes after descending the mineshaftThis story contains details, including a video, that some people may find distressing.

As Mzwandile Mkwayi was lowered into the South African mine in a red metal cage attached to a hoist above ground, the first thing that struck him was the smell.

"Let me tell you something," he tells the BBC, "those bodies really smelled bad".

When he got home later that day, he told his wife he could not eat the meat she had cooked.

"It's because when I spoke to the miners, they told me some of them had to eat other [people] inside the mine because there was no way they could find food. And they were also eating cockroaches," he said on a phone call from his home.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62qqg0zj6yo

---