Sowetan Online
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Eleven illegal miners are feared to be trapped in a disused mine shaft while trying to search for gold remains in Barberton, Mpumalanga.
A man who was arrested when he got out of the shaft on Sunday evening told police that 12 miners had gone into the mine, and that 11 were still inside.
Barberton police station Superintendent Leah Banda said a search for the 11 miners was launched on Sunday but by late yesterday no one had been found.
Banda said illegal mining was a problem in the area and warned that it was dangerous for people to descend into abandoned mine shafts.
"Some incidents of death and injuries involving illegal miners are not reported to the police for fear of arrest," she said.
The arrested illegal miner told police they entered the mine shaft on Thursday but when they tried to come out on Sunday the rope they were using tore and they fell down the hole.
Police suspect the men might have fled back to the mine hole when they saw mine security guards were waiting outside for them.
Last month a search for the body of Alfred Dliwako, a Zimbabwean illegal miner, was called off after it became too costly.
Dliwako is believed to have died in the 120m mine shaft while surfing for gold remains.