South Africa says 31 illegal miners believed killed in explosion in May

At least 31 illegal miners are believed to have died in a gas explosion in a shuttered gold mine in South Africa that happened more than a month ago but is only now coming to light after people reported their relatives missing, authorities said Friday.
The miners are all believed to come from the neighboring country of Lesotho.
A search of the mine was being delayed because methane gas levels were still dangerously high in the ventilation shaft where the miners are thought to have died, the national Department of Mineral and Energy Resources said in a statement.
The mine in the city of Welkom in the central Free State province was previously operated by South Africa’s largest gold-mining company but had been shut down in the 1990s, the department said.