Fourteen illegal miners have died and dozens more were injured at a disused mine near Rustenburg in South Africa’s North West province, police said on Tuesday.
Authorities did not immediately provide details about what caused the deaths or the circumstances surrounding the incident. A senior provincial police official was travelling to the site as investigations continued.
Illegal mining has been a persistent problem in South Africa for decades, involving both small-scale operations and organised criminal networks.
Informal miners, often referred to locally as “zama zamas,” frequently enter abandoned or closed commercial mines in search of remaining deposits of gold and other minerals. Some operations are controlled by armed criminal groups, exposing miners to violence as well as dangerous underground conditions.
The illegal mining industry is estimated to cost South Africa’s government and mining sector hundreds of millions of dollars each year through lost mineral sales, taxes and royalties.
Further details on the Rustenburg incident were expected as police assessed the scene.