STILFONTEIN, South Africa (AP) — The demise toll in a monthslong standoff between police and miners trapped whereas working illegally underground at an deserted gold mine in South Africa has risen to a minimum of 87, police mentioned Thursday as they wound down a rescue operation that has pulled greater than 240 survivors out from deep underground.
Nationwide police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe mentioned that 78 our bodies had been retrieved from the mine in an official rescue operation that started Monday, whereas one other 9 had been recovered beforehand. She didn’t give particulars on how these different our bodies had been retrieved. Group teams have mentioned they launched their very own rescue makes an attempt when authorities mentioned final yr they would not help the miners as a result of they had been “criminals.”
The miners are suspected to have died of starvation and dehydration.
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Authorities now imagine that almost 2,000 miners had been underground working illegally on the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine southwest of Johannesburg since August final yr. A lot of them resurfaced on their very own over the previous couple of months, police mentioned, and all of the survivors have been arrested.
Police introduced Wednesday that they had been ending the rescue operation and believed nobody else was underground. A digital camera can be despatched down on Thursday to make sure, Mathe mentioned. The mine is likely one of the deepest in South Africa and the miners had been working as much as 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) underground.
Mathe mentioned a minimum of 13 kids had additionally come out of the mine earlier than the official rescue operation. The overwhelming majority of the miners are international nationals from neighboring nations, police mentioned.
South African authorities have been broadly criticized for his or her method, having reduce off meals and provides to the miners for a time frame final yr in an try, as one Cupboard minister mentioned, to “smoke them out.”
Civic teams have mentioned authorities have contributed to dozens of deaths, whereas there are requires an impartial inquiry to analyze what occurred.
Police keep that the miners had been in a position to come out by a number of completely different shafts however many refused out of worry of being arrested. That is been disputed by teams representing the miners, who say some had been trapped and left ravenous underground.
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Imray reported from Cape City, South Africa.
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AP Africa information: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
