CNN
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Hundreds of people are believed to be in South Africa’s illegal mines, but the government is refusing to help them in an attempt to force them to surface.
Reports vary as to how many miners were at the abandoned gold mine in the North West. Northwestern Police spokesperson Sabata Mokgabong told The Associated Press that the three miners who came to the surface indicate there could be up to 4,000 miners underground. . Other police reports said the number inside the mine was in the hundreds.
More than 1,000 miners are reported to have surfaced in the past few weeks. Reuters reported that food and water supplies had been cut off by police.
According to the agency’s report, spokesperson Aslenda Mate said a decomposing corpse was brought to the surface on Thursday and a pathologist was at the mine in Stilfontein.
Police are stepping up a crackdown on illegal mining, which has been a problem in South Africa for decades.
Minister in the President’s Office Khumbudzo Ntshabheni said on Wednesday that no aid would be given to illegal miners.
“We’re not sending aid to criminals. We’re going to wipe them out,” she said.
Police and defense officials are expected to visit the site on Friday. The aim was to “reinforce the government’s commitment to completing this operation safely and lawfully,” a police statement said.
Illegal gold mining is costing the South African economy hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales, taxes and royalties, a mining industry body said, according to Reuters.
