78 corpses pulled from besieged gold mine after 'horrific' crackdown in South Africa
At least 78 illegal miners have been pulled out dead from a South African mine where police blocked food and water supplies for months in what trade unions described as a “horrific” state crackdown on desperate people trying to eke out a living.
At least 78 illegal miners have been pulled out dead from a South African mine where police blocked food and water supplies for months in what trade unions described as a “horrific” state crackdown on desperate people trying to eke out a living.
A total of 78 bodies and 166 survivors — some of them emaciated and disorientated — have been hauled out so far in a court-ordered rescue operation that began on Monday, with hundreds more men still stuck 1.5 miles below the surface in a gold mine at Stilfontein, southwest of Johannesburg.
Police had stopped food and water supplies from being taken into the mine since August until a court ruled in December that volunteers could send down essential aid for the miners, known locally as “zama zamas”.
“Our mandate was to combat criminality and that is exactly what we’ve been doing,” said Athlenda Mathe, national spokesperson for the South African police, speaking at the site.
“By providing food, water and necessities to these illegal miners it would be the police entertaining and allowing criminality to thrive,” she said.
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