The underground hives of the deserted mines that now crawl with illegal miners hold countless untold secrets.
The lifeless body of an illegal miner was pulled from the sandy tunnels around midday on Friday, 29 January. The illegal miner was removed from a makeshift entrance in a field alongside Julius Automotive Spares, just off the deserted stretch of Nick Toomey Boulevard. His body was rested outside the scrapyard before being moved to Randfontein Road, where it was collected by authorities later that day.
The circumstances surrounding the death are disputed as men who knew the deceased believe malicious intent was the cause of his passing. The men claimed that large construction vehicles covered the entrance with sand, possibly causing the illegal miner to suffocate. However, staff from the nearby scrapyards who were present on Friday said they saw no such vehicles in the field, which has very few access points.
Two illegal miners who were coming out of the very same tunnels on Wednesday, 3 February, said that they had heard of the incident but did not know the deceased, nor witnessed any construction vehicles covering the entrance.
Roodepoort Police spokesperson, Captain Juanita Yorke, confirmed that an inquest docket had been opened and that the incident is under investigation.
