‘I can’t lose hope’: families await news of trapped miners in South Africa

Relatives and friends protest near the gold mine where workers are trapped in Stilfontein, South Africa. Photograph: Denis Farrell/AP

Almost three days into a South African government operation in which 78 bodies and 218 miners had been pulled out of an illegal goldmine, Zinzi Tom still had no news of her brother, Ayanda.

“I’m not coping, but I need to be strong. I need to put my feelings aside, I will deal with them after,” said Tom, 31, who has become a de-facto leader for relatives of the trapped miners. “I can’t lose hope. It’s something that I just can’t do.”