Disturbing videos have emerged showing the dire situation at a disused gold mine in South Africa where scores of illegal miners have reportedly been living underground for months.
They have been there since police operations targeting illicit mining started last year across the country.
In one of the videos, which the BBC has not independently verified, corpses wrapped in makeshift body bags can be seen. A second shows the emaciated figures of some miners who are still alive.
A long-delayed rescue operation, that last week a court ordered the government to facilitate, began on Monday.
Last year, arguing that the miners had entered the shaft in Stilfontein deliberately without permission, the authorities took a hard line, blocking food and water supplies.
In November, one government minister said: “We are going to smoke them out.”
More than 100 of the illegal miners, known locally as “zama zamas”, have reportedly died underground since the crack down began at the mine some 145km (90 miles) south-west of Johannesburg.
The authorities however, have not confirmed this figure as it is yet to be “verified by an official source”, a spokesperson told the BBC.
Hundreds are thought to be still in the mine while more than a 1,000 have surfaced in the past few months.
In one of the videos released by a trade union, the General Industries Workers of South Africa (Giwusa), dozens of shirtless men can been seen sitting on a dirty floor. Their faces have been blurred. A male voice off camera can be heard saying that the men are hungry and need help.
“We’re starting to show you the bodies of those who died underground,” he says.
“And this is not all of them… Do you see how people are struggling? Please we need help.”
In the other video, a man says: “This is hunger; people are dying because of hunger.” He then puts the death toll at 96 and begs for help, food and supplies.
The union says the footage was filmed on Saturday.
In a briefing held on Monday near the site of the rescue operation, Giwusa leadership, alongside community figures, said the videos shared “painted a very dire picture” of the situation underground.
“What has transpired here has to be called what it is; this is a Stilfontein massacre. Because what this footage does is show a pile of human bodies, of miners that died needlessly,” Giwusa president Mametlwe Sebei said.
He blamed the authorities for what he described as a “treacherous policy” that was deliberately pursued.
The department of mineral resources, leading the rescue effort, told the BBC that Monday’s operation included the lowering down of a cage that has been hoisted up once loaded with people.
This structure is designed to hold six or seven people, depending on their weight, according to Giwusa.
It has been going down the shaft – descending about 2km – every hour. The union said that by the end of Monday 26 miners had been brought up alive along with nine bodies.
Department of mineral resources spokesperson Makhosonke Buthelezi could not confirm whether the priority will be to retrieve those who had died or those in need of medical attention.
A briefing will be held by the department, together with the police ministry, on Tuesday to provide an update on the operation.
By BBC News
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