Teams to use information from community to help locate illegal miners trapped in Roodepoort mine

JOHANNESBURG - Four days since two illegal miners were trapped in an abandoned mine in Roodepoort, rescue teams are expected to use information from a nearby community to help locate the pair.

The zama zamas have been unable to resurface since Saturday after a rope they were using to get in and out of the shaft snapped.

Mining experts have suspended an operation to get them back to the surface indefinitely because of safety concerns.

Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said they could benefit from the help of community members who were familiar with the decommissioned mine.

"We will find a way to get information which will lead us to the other main hole which they might be using so that we can see if we might be able to access the shaft on the other side."

He said the zama zamas were unlucky this time around.

"We are told also that that was their first attempt to attempt to get into that area with the entrance that they used. So, we are told we might be able to get other information from the community."