Three Mozambicans killed in South Africa mine collapse

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Three Mozambicans killed in South Africa mine collapse

8:25 CAT | 12 Jan 2023

Image: Twitter / @Abramjee

At least three Mozambicans have been found dead in an unofficial mine in the South African province of Limpopo, which borders Mozambique, a local police source announced on Monday.

The three Mozambican miners were part of a group of eight ‘zama zamas’ – as artisanal miners in South Africa are known – who died in a landslide after heavy rains, South African police spokesman Motlalefa Mojapelo reported.

The incident took place in Driekop, on the outskirts of Burgersfort, Limpopo province, on Friday. Police attended the scene the following day, when members of the local community reported the incident, and began to retrieve the bodies of the victims, according to the South African press.

The police suspect that the eight men died of suffocation, and have ordered an autopsy to confirm the cause of death.

“Of the victims, one is South African, three are Mozambican, and four, Zimbabwean nationals,” the police spokesman told the local press.

They were were trapped underground following a collapse Frida

The South African police said that the seven foreigners were in the country illegally.

The illegal miners were digging for chrome at ga-Maroga village when heavy rains pushed the soil that blocked the only point they were using for entry and exit, thereby suffocating them, according to the police.

Driekop outside Burgersfort: eight suspected illegal miners digging chrome at Ga-Maroga village, died when they were trapped underground. One South African, three Mozambicans and four Zimbabweans were allegedly busy with illegal mining. pic.twitter.com/eOKPKfvQxa

— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) January 8, 2023