14 clandestine miners killed in disused S’Africa mine

n n

Fourteen clandestine miners were killed and eight seriously hurt after a rockfall in a disused mine in South Africa where they were working, police said Tuesday.

n

There were no details yet of the miners, including their nationalities, as officials were still headed to the site, provincial police spokeswoman Colonel Adele Myburgh told AFP.

n

“Fourteen illegal miners dead at disused mine,” a police statement said. Another eight miners were seriously injured, Myburgh told AFP.

n

The disaster was near the town of Rustenburg, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg.

n

Thousands of unregistered miners known as “zama zamas” operate in South Africa, scavenging abandoned mines for gold and other minerals in arduous and often perilous conditions.

n

They come from across southern Africa, driven by poverty and unemployment, and the sector has been linked to organised crime, assassinations, extortion and other illegal activities.

n

“It’s not safe where they work in any way. So it’s one of those situations where they had a rock fall,” Myburgh said.

n

“They go into discarded mine shafts … it’s so dilapidated, there’s no infrastructure, there’s no safety measures in place,” she said.

n

NAN

n n