An underground methane gas explosion killed 31 illegal miners, known as zama-zamas, in a mine in Welkom, the Department of Mineral and Energy Resources has announced.
The explosion occurred on 18 May, but details were only revealed yesterday.
The explosion is said to have occurred in Shaft 5 of the Virginia mine.
Government says that while the zama-zamas had brought some of the bodies to the surface for burial, there were likely still many underground and that it was currently too dangerous to mount a recovery operation.
[Image: Dariusz Sankowski from Pixabay]