South African police in standoff with hundreds of illegal miners in disused shaft
Desperate family members of illegal miners believed to number in the hundreds waited outside a disused mine shaft in South Africa on Friday in the hope of their loved ones emerging from the hole in the ground.
Desperate family members of illegal miners believed to number in the hundreds waited outside a disused mine shaft in South Africa on Friday in the hope of their loved ones emerging from the hole in the ground.
The miners are in a standoff with police, who have blocked their supplies of food and water and are trying to force them out to arrest them for illegally entering the abandoned mine in search of leftover gold — a common problem in South Africa.
More than 1,000 illegal miners have already resurfaced in recent weeks as the police have cracked down, and at least one dead body has been brought up.
It was unclear if those remaining in the mine in Stilfontein, North West province, were unwilling or unable to get out of the shaft, which descends vertically for more than 2 km (1.2 miles) underground.
Police and community members stood around the rocky entrance, where a pulley had been set up to hoist men out.
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