Efforts to rescue trapped miners in South Africa intensify

Rescue teams in South Africa have stepped up efforts to pull out survivors and the corpses of illegal miners trapped underground for about two months, following one of the most extraordinary tragedies to hit the industry.

At least 78 bodies and more than 200 survivors have been pulled out since Monday after a court ordered the government to facilitate rescue operations at the gold mine.

During a visit on Tuesday, the police and mines ministers were insulted and told to leave by an angry crowd that blamed the government for the deaths.

The stand-off began in November when the government ordered police to arrest any miner who surfaced, saying it was determined to end illegal mining.

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Police said that more than 1,500 miners had come to the surface before the rescue operation began, Reuters news agency reports.

However, others remained underground, either because they feared arrest or were forced to stay there by gangs that control the mine.

Many mines in South Africa have been abandoned over the last three decades by companies that did not find them economically viable.

The mines have been taken over by gangs, often former employees, that sell minerals they find on the black market.

This includes the mine in Stilfontein, some 145km (90 miles) south-west of the country’s biggest city, Johannesburg, which has been the focus of government efforts to clamp down on the illegal industry.

A rescue cage has been making trips down a shaft to reach scores of miners thought to be at least 2km (1.2 miles) underground.

Many of the survivors have been without food and water since November, leaving them emaciated. They are now receiving medical care.

The authorities say they will be charged with illegal mining, trespassing and contravention of immigration laws, as the majority of the miners are undocumented migrants from neighbouring countries.

“It’s a crime against the economy, it’s an attack on the economy,” Mines Minister Gwede Mantashe said on Wednesday as he defended the hard line taken against the miners.

South Africa relied heavily on miners from countries such as Lesotho and Mozambique before the industry went into decline.

Unemployment in South Africa is currently more than 30% and many former miners say they have little alternative source of income.

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