STILFONTEIN, South Africa —They look like the walking dead. Dusty men, skin and hair caked in dirt, skeletal. Some struggle to walk and collapse. They blink like moles in the harsh South African sunlight. Some look painfully young.
Operations to rescue hundreds of illegal miners at an abandoned gold mine in Stilfontein, a small mining town about 100 miles Southwest of Johannesburg, started Monday and ended Thursday when rescuers said there was no longer anyone left in the shaft.
In total during the rescue operation, 246 illegal gold miners were brought to the surface alive. Seventy-eight more were brought up dead. Known here as “zama zamas” or “those who take a chance” in Zulu, the illegal miners have been underground for months, with their condition deteriorating rapidly after police cut off their food and water supplies in November as part of Operation “Vala Umgodi,” or “close the hole.”
For the rest of this article: https://www.npr.org/2025/01/17/nx-s1-5265639/a-south-african-horror-story-illegal-mining-stand-off-draws-to-an-end/