How rescuers comot 78 dead bodies from South Africa mine

South African police don tok say e go dey veri difficult to identify di dead bodies of about 78 miners wey rescue workers comot from one mineshaft dis week.

More dan 240 illegal miners don also come out of di mineshaft for Stilfontein since rescue operation bin start on Monday, according to Brig Athlenda Mathe, di police tok-tok pesin tok.

Di miners bin dey at least two kilometres underground since at least November.

Dat na wen di authorities bin step up efforts to bring an end to illegal mining activities as dem surround di entrance to di shaft and refuse to let food and water to go down to di miners.

Last week, one court order di goment to facilitate rescue operation wey bin get long delay.

Police tok say dem don clear di mine now and comot both dead bodies and pipo wey dey alive.

So far, dem don fit identify only two of di dead bodies, Brig Mathe tok.

"Some of [di corpses] na bodies wey don already decompose wey come up mostly as bones," she tok.

DNA tests don start to identify di bodies, but one major challenge na say "majority of di deceased na undocumented migrants", Mathe tok. Dia families fit no even know say dem bin dey down di mineshaft in di first place.

Plenty of di miners wey come up alive na pipo from neighbouring kontris such as Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

One trade union and rights activists dey accuse di authorities of massacre, but di police don defend dia actions, as dem tok say dem dey deal wit criminality.

Di police blame di kingpins wey dey in charge of di illegal mining and dey control di flow of supplies and trying to prevent di miners from resurfacing.

Police say more dan 1,500 miners bin don come up to di surface bifor di rescue operation begin, but odas remain underground, either becos dem dey fear arrest or dem dey forced to remain dia by gangs wey dey control di mine.

Dis tori get one video wey fit turn pipo belle

Last year, dem argue say di miners enta di shaft for Stilfontein deliberately witout permission, authorities take hard line, blocking food and water supplies.

For November, one goment minister say: "We go smoke dem out."

More dan 100 of di illegal miners, wey dem sabi locally as "zama zamas", don reportedly die underground since di crackdown begin for di mine some 145km (90 miles) south-west of Johannesburg.

For one of di videos wey trade union release, di General Industries Workers of South Africa (Giwusa), say dem fit see dozens of shirtless men wey sit on dirty floor. Dem blur dia faces. We hear one male voice off camera wey tok say di men dey hungry and dem need help.

For one meeting on Monday near di site of di rescue operation, Giwusa leadership, alongside community figures, say di videos wey dem share "paint veri dire picture" of di situation underground.

"Wetin don transpire here, dem suppose call am wetin e be; dis na Stilfontein massacre. Becos wetin dis footage do na to show pile of human bodies, of miners wey die needlessly," Giwusa president Mametlwe Sebei tok.

E blame di authorities for wetin e describe as "treacherous policy" wey dem deliberately pursue.

Di department of mineral resources, wey dey lead di rescue effort, tell di BBC say Monday operation include lowering down cage to load pipo.

Dis structure dey designed to hold six or seven pipo, depending on dia weight, according to Giwusa.