At least ​14 suspected illegal miners were killed and ‌eight injured when a mine dump collapsed in South Africa’s North West province on Monday night, ​police said.
Search and rescue operations were under ​way for an unknown number of people ⁠who may still be trapped at ​the site near Rustenburg, provincial police commissioner Arthur ​Peter Adams said.
The collapse occurred as the miners were digging for platinum group metals at a disused ​dump on a private company’s site, Adams ​said.
The injured miners are from the Southern African country of ‌Lesotho, ⁠while the nationality of those killed has yet to be confirmed.
Illegal mining has plagued South Africa for decades, ranging from small-scale ​theft to operations ​run by ⁠organised criminal networks.
Undocumented miners often enter abandoned commercial mines to extract ​remaining deposits, sometimes under the control ​of ⁠violent gangs.
Illegal mining costs the government and mining industry hundreds of millions of dollars each ⁠year in lost sales, taxes ​and royalties.