JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -At least 400 illegal miners remained trapped underground in South Africa two months after a police raid, a group working on behalf of the miners said on Monday, which provided footage of dozens of dead bodies and emaciated men in the mine.
A spokesperson for the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) did not respond to a request for comment. Makhosonke Buthelezi, spokesperson for the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, said bodies had been retrieved from the mine but said no further details could be divulged ahead of an official report. The two videos, which Reuters verified, were obtained by South African miners' rights group Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA) on Monday. They received them from miners emerging from the gold mine in North West Province on Jan. 10, when a pulley was restored to the bottom of the cavern.
