South Africa Gold Mine Rescue Ends Amid Outrage Over 78 Deaths

South Africa Gold Mine Rescue Ends Amid Outrage Over 78 Deaths


Rescue efforts at an illegal gold mine in South Africa, where at least 78 people died, concluded on Thursday. Credit: flickr / Daniel Sallai CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Rescue operations at an illegal gold mine in South Africa, where at least 78 people died, concluded on Thursday, January 16. Over 200 survivors were rescued and detained at the site.

The removal of miners began in August 2024, when authorities encircled the site and cut off food and water supplies. Labor unions have condemned the tactic, calling it the worst state-sponsored massacre since apartheid.

The operation to extract bodies began on Monday, using cylindrical metal cages. As of now, 78 bodies and 246 survivors have been recovered. The court-ordered operation took place near Stilfontein, southwest of Johannesburg.

Mine rescue survivors in South Africa are mostly immigrants

Most of the survivors rescued from the mine are immigrants from a variety of African countries including Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho. Once they were rescued, they were arrested and charged with illegal immigration, trespassing, and illegal mining.

The police defended the rescue efforts with a statement saying they were “enforcing a government crackdown on illegal mining”. They also claimed allowing water and food supplies to go into the mine during the siege would have been “allowing criminality to thrive.”

Reuters interviewed one of the volunteers helping extract the bodies from the mine. He spent three days going up and down in the cage to extract deceased bodies and survivors.

He told the outlet, “I was scared. Those people were happy to see us, they were very happy. We told them ‘We are here to help you, please don’t die.”

Additionally, the BBC reports that a police spokesman told the volunteers that no one remains underground.

On Thursday morning the cage was sent one last time to the mine.

A spokesman for the volunteers told the public that no one remained in the mine. To confirm, South African police sent the cage down the mine one last time with a camera. Despite apparently confirming that no one was left in the mine, Mannas Fourie, CEO of one of the rescue companies involved in the operation, stated that it’s still possible some deceased individuals remain in the mine’s tunnels.

Illegal mining is an expanding issue in South Africa, as this illegal practice cost the country $3 billion in 2024. Miners without proper documentation typically occupy abandoned mines, attempting to extract whatever resources remain.

South Africa’s violent criminal organizations reportedly control some of these mining operations, profiting from the exploitation of illegal miners who work under dangerous conditions. These groups often maintain control through intimidation, and in some cases, deadly force, further complicating efforts to address the safety and legality of such operations.





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