Dead bodies seen in videos from disused shaft

Disturbing videos have emerged showing the conditions at a disused gold mine in South Africa where many illegal miners are said to have been underground for months.

They have been in place since police operations against illegal mining began last year across the country.

In one of the videos, which the BBC has not independently confirmed, corpses can be seen wrapped in makeshift body bags. The second shows the slim figures of the miners who are still alive.

The long-delayed rescue operation, which last week the court ordered the government to support, began on Monday.

This article contains imagery that some people may find offensive.

Last year, alleging that the mine workers entered the shaft in Stilfontein deliberately without permission, the authorities made a concerted effort, withholding food and water.

In November, the government minister said: “We will smoke them.”

More than 100 of the illegal miners, known as “zama zamas”, have died underground since unrest broke out at the mine, located 145 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.

Officials, however, did not confirm that this number has yet to be confirmed by an official source, a spokesman told the BBC.

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

In one of the videos released by the General Industries Workers of South Africa (Giwusa), many shirtless men are seen sitting on the ground. Their faces have conspired. An off-camera male voice is heard saying that the men are hungry and need help.

“We’re starting to show you the bodies of people who died in secret,” he says.

“And not all of them… Do you see how people are struggling? Please, we need help.”

In another video, a man said: “This is hunger; Then they put 96 people and ask for help, food and other things.

The union says the video was recorded on Saturday.

In a brief statement held on Monday near the rescue center, the Giwusa administration, together with the community, said the videos shared a “very negative picture” of the underground situation.

“What happened here should be called what it is; this is a massacre in Stilfontein. Because what this video is doing is showing a pile of bodies of people, miners who died needlessly,” said Giwusa President, Mametlwe Sebei.

He criticized the government officials for what he said was a “fraudulent policy” that was being followed deliberately.

The Department of Mineral Resources, which is leading the rescue operation, told the BBC that Monday’s work involved lowering the cage, which is raised once it is filled with people.

This structure is designed to hold six or seven people depending on their weight, according to Giwusa. It has been going down – about 2km down – every hour. The union said that by the end of Monday 26 miners had been brought up alive, along with nine bodies.

The spokesperson for the Department of Minerals, Makhosonke Buthelezi was not sure if the priority is to take the dead or those who need medical treatment.

A brief meeting with the department, along with the Ministry of Police, on Tuesday to explain the progress of the project.