Death toll rises to 87 as standoff between police and miners ends in South Africa
STILFONTEIN, South Africa (AP) – The death toll from a two-month standoff between police and miners trapped in an abandoned gold mine in South Africa has risen to at least 87, police said Thursday as they launched a rescue operation. pulled out more than 240 survivors from the depths of the earth.
National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said 78 bodies were removed from the mine in the rescue operation that started on Monday, while nine others were found earlier. He did not provide details on how the other bodies were retrieved. Community groups say they started their own rescue efforts when authorities said last year they would not help the miners because they were “criminals.”
The miners are suspected to have died of starvation and dehydration.
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Authorities now believe around 2,000 miners have been working underground illegally at the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine south-west of Johannesburg since August last year. Many of them have resurfaced on their own in the past few months, police said, and all survivors have been arrested.
Police announced on Wednesday that they are ending the rescue operation and believe that no one else is underground. The camera will be sent on Thursday to confirm, said Mathe. This mine is one of the deepest in South Africa and the miners were working 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) underground.
Mathe said at least 13 children came out of the mine before the official rescue operation. Most of the miners are foreigners from neighboring countries, the police said.
South African authorities have been widely criticized for their approach, having cut off food and supplies from miners for some time last year in an attempt to, as one Cabinet minister put it, “smoke them out.”
Civil society organizations claim that the authorities have contributed to the deaths of many people, and there are calls for an independent investigation to investigate what happened.
The police are still maintaining that the miners were able to get out through different pits but many refused because they were afraid of being arrested. That was opposed by groups representing miners who said some were trapped and left to starve underground.
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Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.
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