Police have confirmed that the number of illegal miners who have been brought to the surface at Shaft 11 in Stilfontein near Klerksdorp in the North West has increased to 166.

Police say the number of people who have been certified dead has also increased to 78.

National Police Spokesperson Athlenda Mathe says, “Just for today, it’s 22 alive that have been retrieved; 18 bodies for today only and if I can just take a recap since Monday and on Monday you will recall that we have 26 arrested, we had nine certified as deceased. Five trips were made with a cage on that particular day. When we recap for Tuesday, we had 106 arrested. We had 51 certified as dead, and we made 17 trips on that particular day with a cage. (On) Wednesday a total figure of 34 arrested and 18 bodies and that brings the total number of illegal miners to 166 alive and arrested.”

Stilfontein Mine | Retrieval operations continue on Wednesday:

Meanwhile, the North West Health Department has refuted allegations that its mortuary facilities in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality are full. This comes after community members in Stilfontein expressed concern that some of the bodies of illegal miners retrieved from a disused mine in the past two days, were placed in pathology vehicles overnight.