A group of 77 “starving illegal miners” were rescued from underground and later arrested while four decomposed bodies were brought up from a shaft in Orkney, near Potchefstroom in the North West.

The rescue mission, from last Thursday to Monday, was conducted by a multidisciplinary team comprising the Dr Kenneth Kaunda district illicit mining team, Orkney visible policing, detectives and a mining rescue team.

Police spokesperson Brig Sabata Mokgwabone said illegal miners had asked mine management to help them get out of a mine shaft because they were “starving”.

“Of the 77 arrested illegal miners who were all medically examined, 60 are from Lesotho, 13 from Mozambique and four are Zimbabwean nationals.”

Mokgwabone said the arrested miners were expected to appear in the Orkney magistrate’s court on Tuesday to face charges of trespassing, illegal mining and contravention of section 49(1)(a) of the Immigration Act).

“During the operation conducted at shaft 5 in Orkney, four decomposed bodies were brought up by the illegal miners on April 15.” 

Mokgwabone said formal identification of the four bodies was in progress.

District police commissioner Maj-Gen Suzette Pretorius applauded the team for working tirelessly over the Easter weekend to rescue illegal miners and ensure they were arrested.

The police are also investigating the discovery of four bodies, suspected to be illegal miners, found on the side of a road in Benoni last Tuesday night.

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