Fourteen illegal miners have died following a rockfall at a disused mine near Rustenburg in South Africa’s North West province.
According to the police, eight other miners sustained varying degrees of injury in the incident, while the identities and nationalities of those involved were not immediately known.
Provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Adele Myburgh, told newsmen on Tuesday that the miners were working inside an abandoned mine shaft where the absence of basic safety measures made the site particularly dangerous.
“It’s not safe where they work in any way. So it’s one of those situations where they had a rock fall. They go into discarded mine shafts … it’s so dilapidated, there’s no infrastructure, there’s no safety measures in place,” Myburgh said.
She explained that disused mine shafts often deteriorate after mining operations end, leaving those who enter them exposed to hazards such as rockfalls and structural collapses.
The miners, commonly referred to as “zama zamas” in South Africa, illegally enter abandoned shafts in search of gold and other valuable minerals left behind by formal mining operations.
Because the activities are unregulated and carried out without proper safety oversight, illegal miners face risks including rockfalls, gas explosions and mine collapses.
Illegal mining has also become a wider security concern in South Africa, with authorities linking some mining operations to organised criminal activities such as extortion, violence and assassinations.
Police have not yet provided further details on what triggered the rockfall, the condition of the injured miners or the arrangements for recovering the bodies of those who died.
Further details, including the identities of the deceased and the exact circumstances surrounding the incident, are expected as authorities continue their assessment of the site.