A decomposed body, said to be among many others, was pulled out of shaft 11 at the disused Buffelsfontein gold mine in Stilfontein mine today. Four illegal miners managed to resurface today.

DECOMPOSED BODIES UNDERGROUND

Jan Pretorius from the Mahlasedi Foundation, which has been helping with supplying food to the zama zamas, said that when community volunteers took down the food to the illegal miners underground using a rope, the rope came back with about seven letters informing them about the dead bodies down the shaft. "One of the letters explained that there were six decomposed bodies underground. This morning, when volunteers took the food down the shaft, they brought up one body but only after the emergency services personnel arrived at the scene," Pretorius said. He added that the letters also explained the situation the miners are facing.

COMMUNITY ASKS FOR MORE BODY BAGS

In one of the letters written in Sesotho, the zama zamas pleaded with authorities to take them out of the shaft. "We have one person who is dead because of a shortage of food, while some of the lying down and are not responsive. Please take us out of this mine." A community leader, Mandla Charles, told News24 that illegal miners underground are complaining about the sight and stench of the dead bodies. "They have asked us to send down the rope to fetch more bodies quickly," said Charles. National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe confirmed that so far this decomposed body is the second body retrieved from the disused mines. The first body was retrieved over two weeks ago and Mathe said at the time that the circumstances surrounding how the illegal miner died were under investigation. "The police have registered an inquest into the death and that the pathologists were called to the scene," she said.