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Police officers and private security personnel stand by the opening of a reformed gold mineshaft where illegal miners are trapped in Stilfontein, South Africa. (Denis Farrell/AP via CNN Newsource)
By Billy Stockwell, CNN
(CNN) — A South African court ordered police to end a standoff with illegal miners and allow emergency workers to gain access to a shaft where hundreds are believed to be holed up.
The High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, said in an interim ruling that all miners underground in the mine in Stilfontein should be allowed to leave and no one should block their exit, according to state broadcaster SABC.
Yasmin Omar, an attorney who helped bring the case to court, told SABC that the ruling was a temporary order and a full hearing will take place next week.
The ruling follows growing concerns about the well-being of the illegal miners – who can spend months below ground – after police cut off food and water supplies.
On Friday, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said in a statement it was investigating the police for restricting the miners’ essential supplies.
At least one decomposed body has been recovered from the mine, police said.
The blockade of the Stilfontein mine is part of an escalating clampdown by the government and police on the activity of illegal miners in the country.
“We’ve got about 6,000 abandoned mines in the country,” David Van Wyk, a lead researcher at Johannesburg-based Benchmarks Foundation, told CNN, adding that when large-scale companies and multinational corporations fail to properly close mines, they are left vulnerable to illegal mining.
Others say the root of the problem is the high levels of unemployment and poverty in the country, which force local people in precarious and dangerous work.
The South African Police Service welcomed the court order but said that the ruling does not prevent the detention of illegal miners who are in good health.
“All those who resurface will continue to be assessed by emergency medical personnel on site, as has been the case,” they said Saturday in a Facebook post.
“Those that are in a good health will be processed and detained. Those that require further medical care will be taken to hospital under police guard,” they added.
The police force said that operations would continue at all abandoned and disused mining shafts in the Stilfontein area and repeated their request for all illegal miners to resurface.
Three illegal miners resurfaced by Saturday afternoon, according to the police. Also on Saturday, a South African national was arrested in Kanana at a house used as a smelter – a facility used to purify gold – they added.
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