Police in the North West is still to determine the identities of the 20 suspected illegal miners who were found dead on the surface of an abandoned mine near Orkney.
This follows unconfirmed reports over the weekend that a number of illegal miners had died in an explosion underground.
Five bodies were found at one site while the others were discovered a few kilometers away. A number of mines have been left abandoned in the area in the past few years.
Police spokesperson, Sabata Mokgwabone, says they are not ruling out the possibility that more bodies might be found.
“They are all male bodies and I can confirm that at this stage they are not yet identified and that they were badly decomposed and they had severe burn wounds. Our investigation is still under way and we hope that as we progress with investigations. We will be able to know who these people are and maybe as to what could have led to this particular incident.”
Update on discovered bodies at an unused Orkney mine:
