Six more bodies have been pulled from a South African mine as efforts continue for a second day to help scores of illegal miners still believed to be at least 2 km (1.2 miles) underground, the national NGO umbrella body Sanco said. BBC.
Eight people survived on Tuesday, adding to the 26 rescued on Monday after being hoisted into an abandoned mine shaft in a cage operated by a surface crane. Nine bodies were recovered on Monday.
The men have been underground since police operations against illegal mining began across the country last year.
Last week, the court ordered the government to facilitate the long-delayed rescue operation.
This story contains video that some people may find disturbing.
Last year, claiming that the miners entered the Stilfontein shaft deliberately without permission, the authorities took a hard line, blocking food and water supplies.
In November, a government minister said: “We will smoke them out.”
More than 100 illegal miners, known locally as “zama zamas”, have reportedly died underground since the mine began collapsing some 145 km (90 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.
The authorities, however, have not confirmed this figure as it has yet to be “verified by an official source”, a spokesman told the BBC.
Disturbing videos emerged on Monday showing the horrific situation in the abandoned gold mine.
In one of the films, which has not been independently confirmed by the BBC, corpses can be seen wrapped in makeshift body bags. Another shows the emaciated figures of some of the miners who are still alive.
Hundreds are thought to still be in the mine, while more than 1,000 have surfaced in the past few months.
In one of the videos released by the union, General Industries Workers of South Africa (Giwusa), dozens of shirtless men can be seen sitting on a dirty floor. Their faces are blurred. Off camera, a male voice is heard saying that the men are hungry and need help.
“We’re starting to show you the bodies of those who died underground,” he says.
“And this is not all… Do you see how people are struggling? Please, we need help.”
In another video, a man says: “This is hunger; people are dying of hunger.” He then states that the death toll is 96 and pleads for help, food and supplies.
The union says the video was taken on Saturday.
At a briefing on Monday near the site of the rescue operation, the Giwusa leadership, along with community representatives, said the videos shared “paint a very dire picture” of the situation underground.
“What happened here must be called what it is; this is the Stilfontein massacre. Because what this footage does is show a pile of human bodies, miners who died needlessly,” said Giwusa president Mametlwe Sebei.
He blamed the authorities for, as he said, a “treasonous policy” that is being deliberately implemented.
The Department of Mineral Resources, which is leading the rescue effort, told the BBC that Monday’s operation involved lowering a cage which is then raised after it is filled with people.
This structure is designed to accommodate six or seven people, depending on their weight, according to Giwusa. He went down the shaft every hour.
