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By News24 Wire

Wire Service


Body of suspected illegal miner recovered after trench collapses in Germiston

With the help of the police's K9 Unit, the area where the person was trapped was identified.


The body of a suspected illegal miner was retrieved from a collapsed trench in High Road in Germiston on Thursday.

Ekurhuleni Emergency Medical Services spokesperson William Ntladi said the rescue team was alerted after the suspected illegal miner was mining on an open piece of land when the trench collapsed and buried him.

With the help of the police’s K9 Unit, the area where the person was trapped was identified.

Ntladi said all the necessary trench rescue equipment was used to recover the body.

“The operation started midday, at 1.20pm, when the call was logged and the body was recovered at 8pm the same day.”

“The patient was declared dead on the scene by City of Ekurhuleni paramedics before being transported by forensic [pathologists] to [an] appropriate pathological facility, still in Germiston.”

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