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Gang leader ‘Tiger’ evades South African police after 78 mine deaths

Johannesburg, South Africa Reuters A suspected gang leader known as “Tiger” escaped with the help of South African police after being pulled from an illegal gold mine last week where at least 78 miners died, the police said on Monday. The Lesotho national resurfaced from the deep mine shaft in Stilfontein while officers had it […]

South Africa mine rescue ends, anger rises over 78 deaths in police siege

Stilfontein, South Africa Reuters South African rescuers ended their attempts on Thursday to find anyone left in an illegal gold mine where at least 78 people died during a police siege, as a local volunteer described the horror of extracting their bodies from deep underground. Police had encircled the mine since August and cut off […]

Body count from South African mine siege rises to 60

Johannesburg, South Africa Reuters South African authorities have pulled at least 60 bodies from the Stilfontein gold mine over two days, police said late on Tuesday. Police began laying siege to the mine in August and cut off food and water supplies for months in an attempt to force the miners to the surface so […]

Footage shows dozens of dead miners trapped after South Africa police raid

Johannesburg, South Africa Reuters At least 400 illegal miners remained trapped underground in South Africa two months after a police raid, a group working on behalf of the miners said on Monday, which provided footage of dozens of dead bodies and emaciated men in the mine. A spokesperson for the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) […]

South Africa’s Ramaphosa calls for safe recovery of illegal miners stuck underground

Johannesburg, South Africa Reuters South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday lives should not be put at risk in a standoff between police and hundreds of illegal miners stuck underground in a disused mine shaft and the miners should be recovered safely. The police have blocked miners’ supplies of food and water to force […]

South African police in standoff with hundreds of illegal miners in disused shaft

Johannesburg, South Africa Reuters South African police were in a standoff on Thursday with hundreds of illegal miners believed to be underground in a disused shaft, a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to “smoke them out”. Police have been trying for weeks to empty the abandoned gold mine in the […]

Brazil’s Lula demands faster action against organised crime in the Amazon

Brasilia, Brazil Reuters Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday urged his government to speed up actions in the Amazon to combat organised crime that has contributed to destruction of the world’s largest tropical rainforest. Lula complained that it had taken a year for a security plan for the Amazon, known as AMAS, […]

Study finds mercury contamination in Brazil’s Yanomami people

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Reuters Indigenous people from nine villages in Brazil’s Yanomami territory were found to be contaminated by mercury, with those living closer to illegal gold mining sites presenting higher levels of contamination, a study released on Thursday found. The study by Brazil’s state-run Fiocruz institute collected hair samples from about 287 Indigenous […]