Community members are continuing with rescue missions of helping illegal miners resurface from the disused Stilfontein mine in North West.

Yesterday three illegal miners were helped to resurface and two of them had to be rushed to hospital for dehydration and starvation.

MISSION CONTINUES

National coordinator of the Mining Affected Communities United in Action, Meshack Mbangula said the illegal miners that were rushed to hospital were in a stable condition.

"We saw the volunteers coming in yesterday and when they came in, they started to throw the rope down and today the rope has gone down again to retrieve more people." 

VALA MGODI

Meanwhile SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the SAPS has welcomed the interim court order issued by the Gauteng High Court that the blockade of the Stilfontein mine be ended to allow emergency teams to access those remaining underground.

This is after the Society for the Protection of Our Constitution asked the court to intervene.

"Deployment operations continue at all abandoned and disused mining shafts in the Stilfontein area, where a call is once again made to all illegal miners to resurface. The order does not in anyway prevent SAPS from performing its constitutional mandate. All those who resurface will continue to be assessed by emergency medical personnel on site, as has been the case. Those that are in a good health will be processed and detained. Those that require further medical care will be taken to hospital under police guard,"she said.