Rescuers pull six more bodies from South Africa mine

Six more bodies have been pulled up from a South African mine as efforts continue for a second day to help scores of illegal miners still thought to be at least 2km (1.2 miles) underground, a national umbrella body for NGOs, Sanco, has told the BBC.

Eight people came out alive on Tuesday adding to the 26 rescued on Monday after they were hoisted up the disused mine shaft in a cage operated by a crane at the surface. Nine bodies were recovered on Monday.

The men have been underground since police operations targeting illicit mining started last year across the country.

Last week a court ordered the government to facilitate a rescue operation that had been long-delayed.

This story contains a video that some people may find distressing.

Last year, arguing that the miners had entered the shaft in Stilfontein deliberately without permission, the authorities took a hard line, blocking food and water supplies.

In November, one government minister said: “We are going to smoke them out.”

And as the rescue mission continued on Tuesday, mining minister Gwede Mantashe told a press conference that illegal mining was a war on the economy and that fight against it needed to be intensified.

More than 100 of the illegal miners, known locally as “zama zamas”, have reportedly died underground since the crackdown began at the mine some 145km (90 miles) south-west of Johannesburg.

The authorities however, have not confirmed this figure as it is yet to be “verified by an official source”, a spokesperson told the BBC.

On Tuesday, the BBC saw dozens of emaciated miners – wearing tattered clothes and no shoes or socks – being taken away by medical professionals outside the mine.

The previous day, disturbing videos emerged showing the dire situation at the disused gold mine.

In one of the films, which the BBC has not independently verified, corpses wrapped in makeshift body bags can be seen. A second shows the emaciated figures of some miners who are still alive.

Hundreds are thought to be still in the mine while more than 1,000 have surfaced in the past few months.

In one of the videos released by a trade union, the General Industries Workers of South Africa (Giwusa), dozens of shirtless men can be seen sitting on a dirty floor. Their faces have been blurred. A male voice off camera can be 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 of them… Do you see how people are struggling? Please we need help.”

In the other video, a man says: “This is hunger; people are dying because of hunger.” He then puts the death toll at 96 and begs for help, food and supplies.

The union says the footage was filmed on Saturday.

In a briefing held on Monday near the site of the rescue operation, Giwusa leadership, alongside community figures, said the videos shared “painted a very dire picture” of the situation underground.

“What has transpired here has to be called what it is; this is a Stilfontein massacre. Because what this footage does is show a pile of human bodies, of miners that died needlessly,” Giwusa president Mametlwe Sebei said.

He blamed the authorities for what he described as a “treacherous policy” that was deliberately pursued.

On Tuesday, a government statement said 13 youngsters, or “minors”, have surfaced from underground since the crackdown began.

The department of mineral resources, leading the rescue effort, told the BBC that the rescue operation included lowering down a cage that is then hoisted up once loaded with people.

This structure is designed to hold six or seven people, depending on their weight, according to Giwusa. It has been going down the shaft every hour.