No canary in goldmine: Toxic gas kills 17 illegal miners in South Africa

17 people are believed to have died as a result of a suspected gas leak in an area near Johannesburg, South Africa, according to local authorities.

At an unofficial settlement in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, the victims, which included three children, perished from gas inhalation. The scene of the toxic gas leak is still active, according to police and forensic investigators, who have warned the public to avoid the area.

The area's unauthorised gold mining has been connected to the leak on Wednesday.

When illegal gold miners, locally referred to as zama zamas, extract gold from soil taken from abandoned mine shafts, they frequently use gases.

In the heavily populated Angelo shanty town of Boksburg, one of the gas cylinders was discovered to be leaking.

Within 100 metres (328 feet) of the accident, the victims were discovered.

"The scene was heartbreaking. The bodies were scattered literally everywhere," said Panyaza Lesufi, Premier of the Gauteng Province.

Officials from the emergency services are worried that as the search and rescue teams continue their work, more bodies could be discovered. Twelve patients are currently being treated in a hospital, one of whom is in critical condition.

A Mozambican woman who is a resident of South Africa revealed to the BBC that her husband had perished in the gas leak. She claimed that a neighbour had called to inform her that her husband had passed out.

She continued, crying, that she was worried about how she would get her husband's body back to Mozambique since she was jobless and he had odd jobs as a handyman.

A labyrinth of abandoned mine shafts can be found in Johannesburg, also referred to as the "city of gold," and they extend for hundreds of kilometres.

The abandoned shafts have been taken over by unauthorised gold miners, most of whom are from nearby nations like Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.

According to locals in Angelo, criminal mining gangs have been renting homes where they refine their loot.

Early on Wednesday night, residents claimed they smelled something foul coming from one of the shacks. The collapse began to occur among those who lived closer to the rented shack.

According to Lesufi, the locals had requested assistance from the army and security forces to get the miners out of the area.

"We need a tactical unit to police this kind of crime. Illegal miners are normally very heavily armed," he said.

Previously, in the same town, a gas tanker explosion on Christmas Eve claimed 41 lives, and this tragedy occurred only six months later.