Several South African miners trapped, media reports say

Two more bodies were recovered from the disused mine in Langlaagte on Tuesday after rescue operations were halted from Sunday due to unsafe conditions underground.

At around 11am two illegal miners surfaced but it soon emerged that they were from a different group that had gone underground two weeks ago. But a rescue crew chose to descend Monday close to the entrance, where they heard the voices of the six rescued miners, World Bulletin reports.

One said in isiZulu: “They can not go in there with all that equipment, because those holes are very small where they are”. He said he knew of at least five men still trapped. Only four returned on Sunday. After last nights rescue, there are now two miners unaccounted for.

“We are not sure of what awaits us but we will do our best to bring our comrades to the surface‚” said another illegal miner. They have been trapped since Wednesday last week.

The mine rescue team will report back to officials from the Department of Mineral Resources on Tuesday morning to discuss the way forward. However, based on past experiences, the team told Matobako that they would have to wait until the levels of carbon monoxide subsided. “Our people know these tunnels very well”. At one point where they actually stopped, the tunnel is about 30cm high.

Emergency services over the weekend were attempting to reach a handful of miners still trapped underground.

But family members, including a woman holding a baby, who had been waiting for hours for the men to return, screamed and wailed as the men were taken away in a police van.

Mines Minister Mosebenzi Zwane has appealed to relatives of the people who are trapped in the mine to be patient saying the South African government is doing all it can to rescue the trapped miners, whose numbers has not yet been determined.

The DMR released a statement on Monday urging stakeholders to work together to eradicate illegal mining in Gauteng province.

Police have arrested seven people for illegal mining.