Fourteen illegal miners were killed and eight seriously hurt after a rockfall in a disused mine in South Africa. Image: Wikimedia CommonsFourteen illegal miners were killed and eight seriously hurt after a rockfall in a disused mine in South Africa where they were working, police said on Tuesday. ‘Zama zamas’“Fourteen illegal miners dead at disused mine,” a police statement said. Another eight miners were seriously injured, Myburgh told AFP. Thousands of unregistered miners known as “zama zamas” operate in South Africa, scavenging abandoned mines for gold and other minerals in arduous and often perilous conditions.