At least 27 illegal Basotho miners who were killed at Harmony gold Mine in Welkom are still trapped underground as attempts are being made to bring their bodies back home.

This was revealed by Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Relations Mr. Lejone Mpotjoane in his statement he made in the National Assembly on Monday.

The Minister said there are a total of 32 Basotho illegal miners who died during the explosion of methane gas while working illegally underground at the Harmony Shaft N0.5 in Welkom, Free State.

Honourable Mpotjoane said two of them survived the ordeal while three of them were brought to the surface and managed to be brought home where they were buried in Maseru and Berea districts.

Moreover, Mpotjoane explained that the Ministry of Minerals and Energy in South Africa established a Task team as well as a Rescue Team to see how the Basotho miners trapped underground could be brought to the surface.

The Minister said even though he was yet to receive an official report, he was reliably told that progress has been made and that a ventilation pipe connecting the Shaft N0 .05 and N0.04 was made to reduce the impact of methane so that operations could begin to bring the dead miners out of the mine.

He promised that the Government of Lesotho will not rest until those Basotho miners have been brought back home to their families so that they could get dignified burials.