Stilfontein deaths labelled a ‘massacre' as rescue starts
The Stilfontein Crisis Committee has accused the police of killing over 100 miners who remain underground at a disused North-West mine.
On Monday, the committee briefed the media as an unknown number of suspected illegal miners remained underground at the Buffelsfontein gold mine.
It emerged last week during the latest court bid, aimed at compelling the government to extract the miners and provide humanitarian assistance, that a letter, purportedly sent up by trapped miners from shaft 11 at the mine, stated that more than 100 people had died.
The committee released a video on Monday, showing what it claims to be scores of dead miners in body bags underground.
Lawyers for Human Rights Mametlwe Sebei said the police are complicit in the deaths by restricting access to food.
"What has transpired here has to be called what it is. This is a Stilfontein massacre. This is really a bloody culmination of a treacherous policy that was pursued by the government as a result of restriction in terms of access to food, water and medication.”
READ: Stilfontein: 27 minors linked to illegal mining repatriated
Meanwhile, rescue efforts began on Monday after police previously said that it lacked the money to fund the rescue operation.
At least 1,500 suspected illegal miners have resurfaced from various shafts around the mine, and at least a dozen dead bodies have been retrieved by volunteers.
"For 13 days, these miners did not have food, did not have water, did not have medication,” Sebei said.
“But also, nobody could be able to rescue them, nor could they, of course, escape or get out of the mine by any other route. The result was a deadly trap that Stilfontein shaft 11 became.”
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