Two dead bodies of illegal miners were on Tuesday recovered by volunteers from the illegal mining community in Johannesburg.
More bodies brought up from abandoned Johannesburg gold mine
Families of the miners have waited patiently for the deceased to be brought to the surface.
“These are the bodies that we have retrieved. We have been consulting with the people that work in this mine, I’m sure you have seen the volunteers going in and out to ascertain whether there are still any individuals inside the mine,”
siad Zimbabwean Community Chairman in South Africa, Ngqabutho Mabhena.
Johannesburg police spokesperson noted that anybody coming out of the mine would be arrested for trespass and breach of the country’s mining laws.
Scores of illegal miners die each year in the labyrinth of tunnels that stretch beneath the streets of Johannesburg and beyond.
“You know that the South African government yesterday through the ministry of Minerals and Resources took a decision to abandon this (site) claiming that there is no one inside, we have proven that yes indeed people are here, we have brought two bodies. This in our view is arrogance at its best,” added Mabhena.
In most cases after an accident, the miners, mostly illegal migrants from neighbouring Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho or Swaziland are reluctant to alert authorities for fear of being arrested and deported.
Miners first discovered gold at Langlaagte mine in 1886.