The North West health department will collaborate with neighbouring countries to repatriate the bodies of foreign illegal miners.
“We are working closely with the Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho embassies to ensure they identify the families of the bodies through DNA before we repatriate their citizens,” spokesperson Lucas Mothibedi said.
The bodies are believed to be those of illegal miners, some of whom had been underground for months after police cut off food and water supplies in an attempt to force them to the surface.
The operation to retrieve the illegal miners, which began on Monday, is a court-ordered rescue mission. Hundreds more are feared to be 2km below the surface.
Rescue teams are working around the clock to retrieve any survivors or recover the bodies of the deceased.
Mothibedi said the identification process involves the embassies working with SA authorities to confirm the identities of the deceased through DNA testing and other medical means.
“We are communicating with the embassies to ensure that they identify the families of those that we've already identified through DNA and other medical means. On completion of that process we will then negotiate with embassies of those countries to repatriate their citizens,” said Mothibedi.
Once the identities are confirmed, the process of repatriating the bodies will begin, he said.
According to Mothibedi, about 97 Mozambican nationals have been identified.
“In terms of bodies, we've got about 89 of them, and of that number half are Mozambican nationals. So we’re working hand in glove with all the embassies to ensure that we return them home.”
The SA government has been under scrutiny for its handling of the illegal mining crisis. In response to the situation, police had cut off the pulley systems that had been used to deliver food and water to the miners, hoping to force them to the surface.
The move was met with widespread criticism from trade unions, who called it a “horrific” crackdown on desperate individuals seeking a living in the dangerous environment.
Some miners died while trying to escape, crawling through flooded tunnels in a desperate attempt to reach safer areas of the mine.
Between August and the start of the rescue operation, 1,576 miners managed to exit the mine on their own but were arrested for illegal mining and immigration violations. Of these, 121 individuals have already been deported.
TimesLIVE
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