{"id":29785,"date":"2023-06-09T08:08:52","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T08:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/31-basotho-illegal-miners-feared-dead"},"modified":"2023-06-09T08:22:09","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T08:22:09","slug":"31-basotho-illegal-miners-feared-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/31-basotho-illegal-miners-feared-dead","title":{"rendered":"31 Basotho illegal miners feared dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>THIRTY-ONE Basotho are feared dead in South Africa after a gas explosion in a disused shaft they were illegally mining last Thursday. The police and emergency workers say it is too dangerous to conduct a rescue operation at the shaft at Harmony Gold Mine.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the incident in a press statement yesterday. \u201cThere is only one zama-zama (as illegal mine workers are called in South Africa) who has escaped death,\u201d said the ministry.<\/p>\n

The man who was rescued is recovering at Maluti Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Mapoteng. The ministry said it is suspected that methane gas in the shaft could have caused the explosion.<\/p>\n

\u201cExperts have warned that it is too early to retrieve the bodies underground because it is believed that there is still a huge volume of methane.<\/p>\n

\u201d The ministry said Lesotho\u2019s Consulate working together with the South African police and the Harmony Mine management is monitoring the situation.<\/p>\n

It said the government will help repatriate the bodies. Droves of young Basotho young men flock to South Africa to try their luck in the abandoned mines.<\/p>\n

These young men are pushed by desperation and wretched poverty in Lesotho because many of them could not land proper jobs. Although there are reports that some have made it big, it\u2019s an adventure that often ends badly for many.<\/p>\n

Twenty Basotho illegal mineworkers were found dead in Orkney, Northwest, in June 2021. In 2009, about 38 Basotho men perished in an abandoned shaft in Welkom.<\/p>\n

About nine of them were from the same village in Thaba-Tseka, Ha-Noko. The total of men who had died in that shaft, some from Mozambique and Malawi, was 86.<\/p>\n

Illegal gold mining is also said to be fuelling killings between the famo gangs in Lesotho. The feuds over control of rich shafts have often led to gun fights that spill over to Lesotho.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the men kill each other underground. The South African police appear to have failed to stop people from entering the disused mines. Mines that own the shafts have resorted to private security guards whose impact is, however, limited<\/p>\n

to disrupting makeshift gold processing plants by impounding equipment. But the security guards say they are fighting a losing battle because their raids merely slow down the illegal miners.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. THIRTY-ONE Basotho are feared dead in South Africa after a gas explosion in a disused shaft they were illegally mining last Thursday. The police and emergency workers say it is too dangerous to conduct a rescue operation at the shaft at Harmony Gold Mine. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the incident […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":29784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,7],"tags":[233,246,343,245],"class_list":["post-29785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-head-lines","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-basotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\n31 Basotho illegal miners feared dead - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THIRTY-ONE Basotho are feared dead in South Africa after a gas explosion in a disused shaft they were illegally mining l ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/31-basotho-illegal-miners-feared-dead\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"31 Basotho illegal miners feared dead\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THIRTY-ONE Basotho are feared dead in South Africa after a gas explosion in a disused shaft they were illegally mining l ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/31-basotho-illegal-miners-feared-dead\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-09T08:08:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-09T08:22:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/06\/sm_1686282609.477851.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/31-basotho-illegal-miners-feared-dead#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/31-basotho-illegal-miners-feared-dead\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"31 Basotho illegal miners feared dead\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-09T08:08:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-09T08:22:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/31-basotho-illegal-miners-feared-dead\"},\"wordCount\":396,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/31-basotho-illegal-miners-feared-dead#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/06\/sm_1686282609.477851.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Basotho\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"head lines\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/31-basotho-illegal-miners-feared-dead#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/31-basotho-illegal-miners-feared-dead\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/31-basotho-illegal-miners-feared-dead\",\"name\":\"31 Basotho illegal miners feared dead - 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