Rescuers pull out one of the 11 workers trapped in an illegal gold mine in Benoni, outside Johannesburg, on February 16, 2014/AFP
Rescuers used heavy duty equipment to try to clear a way out for the men stuck in the mine near Johannesburg, emergency services said.
“We have rescued 11 so far, none of them have visible injuries. But they are being assessed by medics,” Russel Meiring of the private emergency operators ER24 told AFP from the accident scene.
It is believed there are more than 200 miners trapped inside the mine, 30 of them at a shallow level.
The 30 “have told us that underneath them there’s 200 others,” Werner Vermaak, ER24 spokesman said earlier.
But he added that he could not independently confirm the figure of 200, while local municipal officials could only confirm 30 trapped.
Those rescued will be arrested for illegal mining and trespassing, police said.
“There’s still a number of them underground who are refusing to come out for fear of arrest,” police spokesman Mack Mngomezulu told AFP.
Municipal officials said the workers went down on Saturday into the mine, which has been dug illegally behind a cricket stadium in the Benoni district east of Johannesburg.
But police suspect some of them had been underground for up 12 days.
They were unable to come out after boulders fell and blocked their way, municipal rescuers said.
Boulders blocking the entrance to the shaft were removed using excavation equipment, clearing the way for rescuers to pull them out.
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