{"id":30566,"date":"2023-06-25T11:23:16","date_gmt":"2023-06-25T11:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/s-africa-probes-deaths-of-31-lesotho-miners-in-may-explosion"},"modified":"2023-06-25T11:56:16","modified_gmt":"2023-06-25T11:56:16","slug":"s-africa-probes-deaths-of-31-lesotho-miners-in-may-explosion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/s-africa-probes-deaths-of-31-lesotho-miners-in-may-explosion","title":{"rendered":"S Africa probes deaths of 31 Lesotho miners in May explosion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>At least 31 people are believed to have died in a gas explosion in a disused mine shaft in South Africa\u2019s Free State province that happened on May 18 but has only now come to light, authorities said on Friday.<\/p>\n

The dead are believed to be from neighbouring Lesotho \u2013 which reported the incident to South African authorities \u2013 and died in a ventilation shaft in Virginia mine in Welkom city, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) said.<\/p>\n

It was not clear what caused their deaths but the DMRE said an investigation into the incident with the help of Harmony Gold \u2013 the previous owner of the mine which ceased operations in the 1990s \u2013 determined that methane levels were very high in the ventilation shaft.<\/p>\n

Authorities in Free State were being prevented from sending a search team into the mine to retrieve bodies because there were still dangerously high levels of methane gas in the shaft, the department said in its statement on Friday.<\/p>\n

It said it was considering various options to \u201cspeedily deal\u201d with what was \u201ca unique and strange situation\u201d. Illegal prospecting is rife in South Africa\u2019s old gold-mining areas, where miners go into closed and often dangerous mine shafts to dig for deposits.<\/p>\n

The activity usually happens as smalltime pilfering or as networks run by organised crime. These guys are heavily armed, and that\u2019s the difficulty [with policing them],\u201d said Nathi Shabangu, spokesperson for mining and energy minister Gwede Mantashe, referring to the criminal gangs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a big challenge, and cannot be solved within a day or overnight.
\nThe government department said it had received information that three bodies had been recovered after they were brought to the surface by other illegal miners. Another 16 suspected illegal miners who were also in the shaft have handed themselves over to authorities, police said.<\/p>\n

Sihle Maake, Harmony\u2019s spokesperson, said the company viewed the incident \u2013 which occurred on May 18 \u2013 as a criminal matter and has handed it over to the South African police for further investigation.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Lesotho. At least 31 people are believed to have died in a gas explosion in a disused mine shaft in South Africa\u2019s Free State province that happened on May 18 but has only now come to light, authorities said on Friday. The dead are believed to be from neighbouring Lesotho \u2013 which reported […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":30565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233,246,245,470],"class_list":["post-30566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-south-africa"],"yoast_head":"\nS Africa probes deaths of 31 Lesotho miners in May explosion - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At least 31 people are believed to have died in a gas explosion in a disused mine shaft in South Africa\u2019s Free State pro ...\" \/>\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\/s-africa-probes-deaths-of-31-lesotho-miners-in-may-explosion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"S Africa probes deaths of 31 Lesotho miners in May explosion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At least 31 people are believed to have died in a gas explosion in a disused mine shaft in South Africa\u2019s Free State pro ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/s-africa-probes-deaths-of-31-lesotho-miners-in-may-explosion\" \/>\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=\"2023-06-25T11:23:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-25T11:56:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/06\/sm_1687677801.516193.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"770\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"513\" \/>\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\/s-africa-probes-deaths-of-31-lesotho-miners-in-may-explosion#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/s-africa-probes-deaths-of-31-lesotho-miners-in-may-explosion\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"S Africa probes deaths of 31 Lesotho miners in May explosion\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-25T11:23:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-25T11:56:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/s-africa-probes-deaths-of-31-lesotho-miners-in-may-explosion\"},\"wordCount\":359,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/s-africa-probes-deaths-of-31-lesotho-miners-in-may-explosion#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/06\/sm_1687677801.516193.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"South Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/s-africa-probes-deaths-of-31-lesotho-miners-in-may-explosion#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/s-africa-probes-deaths-of-31-lesotho-miners-in-may-explosion\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/s-africa-probes-deaths-of-31-lesotho-miners-in-may-explosion\",\"name\":\"S Africa probes deaths of 31 Lesotho miners in May explosion - 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