At least 100 men have died of suspected starvation after being trapped in an illegal underground South African mine for months, a group representing them has said.
The illegal miners have been inside the disused shaft — which is 145km south-west of Johannesburg — without permission since last year, prompting authorities to block food and water supplies in an attempt to force them from the site.
“We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out,” Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told a media briefing in November, when police launched an operation to try and force the miners out.
Police said the miners were refusing to come out for fear of arrest. Sabelo Mnguni, a spokesperson for the miners’ rights group Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA), said the miners had been left trapped underground after police removed the ropes they used to climb out of the mine.
The news comes after a long-delayed court-ordered rescue operation — which is to be carried out by the government — started on Monday.
MACUA released footage to several media organisations — which hasn’t been verified by SBS — appearing to show scores of dead bodies at the underground site wrapped in plastic, as well as emaciated men.
“While the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy were playing political games with the lives of the people trapped in Shaft 11, more than 100 have died,” MACUA said in a statement.
“We have seen video footage of the vast extent of the deaths brought about by government inaction and neglect,” it added.
A spokesperson for South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy confirmed to the Reuters news agency that the bodies had been retrieved from the mine but said that no further details could be shared ahead of an official report.
MACUA believes that hundreds of people are still trapped in the mine. More than 1,000 have already surfaced in the past few months, with many reported to be in bad health.
Illegal mining has plagued South Africa for decades, and police say many of the groups who engage in it are known to be heavily armed.
Authorities are currently at the site with machinery preparing to continue planned rescue efforts this week.
With additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press.