Stilfontein: Community leaders call on govt to help retrieve remains of illegal miners left underground

STILFONTEIN - Some community leaders have called on government to help retrieve the remains of some of the illegal miners left underground during an operation to shut down an illicit mining network in Stilfontein.  

Earlier this week, a government-led operation was called off after it was confirmed that there were no more signs of life underground.  

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The operation kicked off on Monday.  

In three days, more than 240 illegal miners resurfaced, while 78 dead bodies were recovered.  

But the community leaders who went down with the cage during the operation said some bodies were too heavy and too far to bring up to the surface.  

Community activist Thembile Bortman said: "There are people that managed to resurface that are saying, ‘We left bodies there, we’ve left people hanging.’ Our volunteers went down, they’ve confirmed to the police that there are people down there, there are still bodies at shaft 10."