JOHANNESBURG – The relatives of illegal miners who have been trapped underground at a disused shaft at Langlaagte, west of Johannesburg, were on Monday negotiating with police to allow them to go underground and rescue their loved ones.

This comes after the operation to rescue them was suspended indefinitely on Sunday after a fire broke out deep inside the shaft which has toxic levels of carbon dioxide.

It is alleged that an unconfirmed number of illegal miners entered the disused shaft on Wednesday, and when they failed to emerge, 16 more went down the next day to look for them.

Three illegal miners were rescued on Sunday morning. Two of them were arrested while a third was taken to hospital. Members of their families have been camping on the ground above the shaft since the rescue operation began.

The SABC reported that three more illegal miners surfaced early on Monday morning, then tried to flee from police.

One of the relatives of the illegal miners, who are not happy with Mines Rescue Services, tried to negotiate his way with police spokesperson, Captain Kay Makhubele, who refused to give in to their demands.

“Most of these rescue operations personnel do not know underground work. We feel pain because we are rushing to go down and rescue our brothers urgently because we know that they are alive down there. We just want to government to allow us to do this on our own, that’s all,” the man argued.

The illegal miners were said to have been trapped in the Johannesburg’s oldest and disused gold mine at George Harrison Park since last week Wednesday.

Less than half an hour after the interaction between Makhubele and the relatives, one of the trapped illegal miners emerged from the shaft and was swiftly taken into custody.

An official of the Johannesburg emergency services said the illegal miner would be taken to hospital to be assessed for injuries and then transferred to custody while the other three were arrested and taken straight to prison.

It is suspected that there are multiple groups that operate at the closed mine shaft.

Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane is set to arrive at the mine to assess the situation.