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Members of police force and emergency services gather outside shaft 11 as they conduct rescue operations.
Police say they are facing a mammoth task of having to identify the bodies of illegal miners who died underground in shaft 11 at the Stilfontein mine.
78 bodies of illegal miners were retrieved since the rescue operation led by government started on Monday.
The other 246, who are still alive, were retrieved and have been arrested.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe says the majority of the deceased are foreign nationals.
“Only two have been identified because the challenge is that the majority of them are undocumented. Some of them are decomposed bodies that came up as bones so that DNA process to try and identify who these individuals are is underway,” says Mathe.
“For now we can confirm that of those that have been arrested, a total of nine illegal miners have been hospitalised because they required further medical treatment. They are under police guard in hospital,” she adds.
VIDEO | Community members who assisted in the retrieval operation share their experiences:
