Five S/African Miners Trapped for 3 Days Presumed Dead
Last update: February 20, 2026
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Rescuers continue drilling and pumping efforts nearly 900 metres underground.
Five miners trapped for three days in a South African diamond mine are presumed dead, the mines minister said on Friday, as rescue teams continued efforts to reach them.
CBI News reports that the miners were buried by a mudslide early Tuesday about 890 metres underground at a mine in Kimberley, around 500 kilometres southeast of Johannesburg.
Mines Minister Gwede Mantashe told local media that given the time elapsed in what he described as a mud rush, he would presume the miners had died.
Speaking during a visit to the Ekapa mine, he said authorities hoped to recover the bodies rather than hold on to expectations that the men were still alive.
Mine management said six teams were working around the clock, focusing on pumping out water so that mud and rock could be cleared to reach the miners’ last known location.
Ekapa describes itself as the largest privately owned diamond mining company in the world.
South Africa is a major global mining producer, particularly of coal, platinum, gold and diamonds.
The sector employed about 470,000 people in 2022, according to the Minerals Council of South Africa.
The council has said 41 miners were killed on the job last year, the lowest figure on record.
