Deadly Methane Blast Rocks South African Gold Mine.
At least 31 people, believed to be illegal gold miners from Lesotho, have died in a methane explosion at an abandoned gold mine in South Africa. The mine was previously owned by Harmony Gold but has been abandoned since the 1990s. The mine's ventilation shaft had abnormally high methane levels, making it too risky to dispatch a search team. Lesotho has called for the bodies to be repatriated.