JOHANNESBURG – Bodies of seven people have been found dumped next to the N12 freeway at the Putfontein off-ramp in Ekurhuleni.
Emergency services say while six of the discovered bodies had what appeared to be gunshot wounds to the upper body, one was burnt.
The area is known for infighting between illegal miners, but the exact circumstances of their deaths hasn’t been determined.
Emergency services say they had their hands full until the early hours of Friday morning trying to determine how the seven bodies ended up on the side of the freeway.
Ekurhuleni EMS spokesperson William Ntladi said all the six bodies had upper body trauma, while one was completely charred.
“We identified the seven bodies, all of them with upper body trauma – head and chest injuries and we’re not sure it that was deep lacerations or gunshot wounds.”
There have been suggestions on social media networks that the deceased could have been illegal miners, but law enforcement authorities could not confirm this.
Ntladi said they were alerted to the bodies when a passerby phoned the police.