South Africa: Dozens dead, 82 rescued from illegal gold mine after police lay siege

South African rescuers have pulled out 36 dead bodies and 82 survivors from a gold mine deep underground in two days of operations, police say, adding that the survivors would all face illegal mining and immigration charges.

Police began laying siege to the mine in August and cut off food and water supplies in an attempt to force the miners to the surface so they could be arrested as part of a crackdown on illegal mining.

A Reuters team at the site on Tuesday saw rescuers carrying one man on a stretcher, while a group of other men, one of them emaciated, sat on the ground surrounded by uniformed police officers and paramedics.

Footage issued by a miners’ rights group on Monday had shown dozens of corpses and skeletal survivors inside the mine, which is located about 150 km from Johannesburg in the town of Stilfontein.

Sabelo Mnguni, a spokesman for the Mining Affected Communities United in Action Group told The Associated Press that a mobile phone sent to the surface with some rescued miners on Friday had two videos on it showing dozens of bodies underground wrapped in plastic.

Mnguni said “a minimum” of 100 men had died in the mine in North West province where police first launched an operation in November to force the miners out.

They were suspected to have died of starvation or dehydration, Mr Mnguni added.