78 dead at abandoned South Africa gold mine that was scene of a standoff. Toll is expected to rise

A miner is transported on a stretcher by rescue workers after he was rescued from below ground in an abandoned gold mine in Stilfontein, South Africa, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

STILFONTEIN, South Africa — STILFONTEIN, South Africa (AP) — Rescuers and volunteers have pulled at least 78 dead miners and more than 160 survivors from an abandoned South African gold mine, where they have languished for over two months during a standoff with authorities who demanded they surrender to police because they were mining illegally.

Hundreds are still believed to be trapped Wednesday and the death toll is expected to rise in a disaster that has focused criticism on the South African government’s decision to try to “smoke them out” by cutting off food and other supplies for a time. Civic groups claim authorities also removed the ropes and pulley systems that the miners used to enter and exit at least one shaft and send down supplies.

The groups say the government's weekslong refusal to stage a rescue effectively left scores of miners to die of starvation or dehydration. A rescue is now underway — after a court order — but only a few miners can be pulled up at a time, and the operation could take 10 days.

South African authorities have argued that the miners were always able to exit through another shaft at Buffelsfontein Gold Mine, one of the deepest in the mineral-rich country.

But activists said that would involve a dangerous trek underground that could take days for some, and many became too weak or ill after months underground with little food and water. Police contend some miners refused to come out.

Authorities ordered to launch a rescue operation

In response to a request by a relative of one of the miners, a court last week ordered a rescue operation, which began Monday. A specialist mining rescue company has been dropping a small cage thousands of meters (feet) into the mine to retrieve survivors and bodies. But no personnel from the company entered the shaft because they consider it too dangerous — instead community volunteers headed down in the cage to help the miners out.

Police first tried to force the miners out of the closed mine near the town of Stilfontein, southwest of Johannesburg, in November by cutting off their supplies. The move, part of a larger crackdown on illegal mining, began a standoff between authorities and the miners and members of the community.

A court ruled that authorities had to allow supplies in — but civic groups argue that officials needed to do more at that point because even without police interference the miners weren't able to get enough food and water into the mine and the situation was becoming dire.

The mine is 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) deep with multiple shafts, many levels and a maze of tunnels. A group representing the miners said there are numerous groups in various parts of the mine and estimated that more than 500 miners were underground when the rescue started.

It's unclear exactly how long they've been underground, but relatives say some of them have been there since July.

A rising death toll

Police said Wednesday that 78 bodies have been recovered so far, and 166 survivors brought out since the official rescue operation began. A community group says another nine bodies were recovered on Friday and an unconfirmed number in the previous weeks after members of the community attempted to rescue miners themselves.

Civic groups representing the miners say at least 100 have died.

The official rescue is now proceeding slowly because only a few people can fit in the cage at a time and because the shaft is so deep.

Authorities have argued that the miners could have exited if they wanted to — and police say more than 1,000 did before the rescue operation — but they didn't because they feared arrest. Police say they have arrested everyone who has surfaced both before and after the rescue operation.

They will face charges of illegal mining and trespassing. Authorities seized gold, explosives, firearms and more than $2 million in cash from the miners.

Video from underground

One of the civic groups representing the miners released two videos over the weekend showing what it said were the dire conditions underground. The videos were on a cellphone carried out of the mine by one of the miners, the group said, along with a note urging people to watch them.

In them, dozens of what appear to be dead bodies can be seen lined up in a darkened cavern and wrapped in plastic. They also show shirtless, emaciated-looking miners while the man filming says they are dying and begs for authorities to send them food and get them out.

‘Smoke them out’ tactics

Authorities are particularly under fire for their tactics last year, when they cut off food and other supplies to the miners underground for a period of time. It was an attempt to “smoke them out,” a South African Cabinet minister said, adding that authorities would not help the miners because they were “criminals.”

Rights groups have condemned the plan, accusing authorities of contributing to a “massacre” at the mine, and members of the community have also gathered at the mine holding placards criticizing the authorities.

But while anger is high in the local community, the tragedy has not stoked a strong reaction across South Africa, where illegal mining is often in the news.

The practice is common at mines that companies have closed because they are no longer profitable, leaving groups of informal miners to enter in a search for leftover deposits. South Africa has an estimated 6,000 abandoned mines.

The South African government has taken a hard-line approach to the groups, who are known as zama zamas — which means “hustlers” in the Zulu language — and have long been a problem for authorities. They are often armed and part of criminal syndicates, the government says, and many are foreigners who entered South Africa illegally from neighboring countries.

The government says they are robbing South Africa of more than $1 billion a year in gold.

Authorities said that more than 1,500 people have been arrested for mining illegally in the Stilfontein area over the last year, with the vast majority of them from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho.

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Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

Mogomotsi Magome And Gerald Imray, The Associated Press