Best of AP — Honorable Mention

South African miner describes horrors for those who spent months underground

Mine rescue workers host up a cage that was used to rescue trapped miners at an abandoned gold mine, where miners were rescued from below ground, in Stilfontein, South Africa, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
South Africa Dead Miners

An all-formats team reported from the scene of a South Africa mine disaster where hundreds of men working illegally underground had become trapped and were being pulled out by rescuers.

Through community source work, the journalists made contact with a miner who had previously been trapped and escaped in December. He agreed to be interviewed, in all formats, at home. He described spending six months underground at one of the country’s deepest mines as fellow miners died of starvation, dehydration, and illnesses around him, and how he eventually crawled and climbed to safety out of a separate mine shaft.

The team worked with editor Anna Jo Bratton for a quick-turnaround, textured piece. The judges were impressed with the team’s quick thinking and careful approach in landing the interview, while other news outlets reported from the mine’s surface and relied on scant information coming from authorities.

Contact us
FOLLOW AP