South African diamond mining company files for bankruptcy after five miners killed in flood.

South African mining company Ekapa Minerals has filed for liquidation following the death of five miners at its Ekapa Joint Shaft Mine at Kimberly in Northern Cape Province, South Africa, on 17 February 2026. The miners have been missing presumed dead since a slurry of water and mud rapidly filled the section of the mine where they were working. The area where the incident occurred was located 890 m below ground, and had only recently been opened up, and life support systems had been installed, but the sudden nature of the flood has led the mine operators to conclude that the incident was not survivable, and, following several days of attempts to reach and clear the site, that there is little hope of recovering the bodies of the lost miners.

A mine rescue team entering the Ekapa Joint Shaft Mine site this week. SABC News.

Floods and inrushes typically occur when miners accidentally break through into pockets of water and gas trapped within rocks. Since such buried waters are often under high pressure due to the weight of rocks above them, they tend to escape into the mine rapidly, and on occasion explosively, leading to a highly dangerous situation in which miners are often rapidly overwhelmed. Such inrushes can also occur when miners encounter flooded disused mineworkings, a danger in areas where mining has occurred for a long time but good records have not been kept. The Ekapa mine had a history of flood inrush events, and the company had been warned by a parliamentary committee in 2025 that steps needed to be taken to avoid future events of this kind.

The Ekapa Joint Shaft Mine site. SABC News.

The closure of the mine is predicted to result in the loss of about 1200 jobs, a crisis for the city of Kimberly, which has a population of just under 97 000 people, and is already suffering from high unemployment rates due to the decline of the diamond industry. Furthermore, workers from the site report that they have not received their salaries for the month of February 2026, placing many of the in a very difficult situation financially. 

Ekapa Minerals purchased the Joint Shaft Mine from mining giant De Beers in 2016, and at the time of closure it was the last surviving diamond mine in Kimberly. In theory, the site could be sold on to another mining company following the liquidation process, but it is unclear if a buyer will be found given the mine's problems and a fluctuating diamond market.

The location of Kimberley in Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Google Maps.

Kimberly was founded in the 1870s following the discovery of diamonds in the area, and rapidly became a centre of wealth in the Cape Colony, opening South Africa's first stock exchange in 1881, and becoming the second city in the world to install electric street lighting the following year. However, in recent years the city's mines have closed one-by-one as the industry has become less viable. The long history of mining in the area means that there are no diamonds left close to the surface, and while they can still be found at greater depths, these are generally fairly small, making it hard for these mines to compete with either shallow, open pit mines elsewhere, or artificial lab-grown diamonds.

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Denmark officially recognised as having ended mother-to-child transmission of HIV and Syphilis.

Denmark has been officially recognised as having eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and Syphilis according to a press release issued by the World Health Organization on 27 February 2026. In doing so it becomes the first member of the European Union and the third European country to achieve this status (behind Moldova and Belarus, both of which were confirmed as having ended mother-to-child transmission of both diseases in 2016). 

Flag of Denmark. Tomasz Sienicki/Wikimedia Commons.

The World Health Organization is aiming for all countries to achieve the triple elimination of mother-to-child transmission of three critical diseases, HIV, Syphilis, and Hepatitis B, although to date only a single country has passed this milestone, the Maldives in October 2025. Denmark's progress makes it one of 23 countries to have ended mother-to-child transmission of at least one of these diseases, alongside Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Belarus, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, Botswana, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Jamaica, Malaysia, Maldives, Montserrat, Namibia, Oman, Republic of Moldova, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Thailand.

The confirmation of Denmark's status comes following assessments by the World Health Organization's Regional Validation Committee for Europe, and Global Validation Advisory Committee in 2025. In order to be confirmed, it was necessary to demonstrate that 95% of all pregnant women in Denmark were tested for the diseases, and that new infant infections were below 50 in 100 0000 births. Denmark currently has 5950 people living with HIV, with less than 0.1% of pregnant women affected. It is possible to completely suppress the disease with antiretroviral treatments, preventing development of symptoms and all forms of transmission, including mother-to-child. In 2024, Denmark reported 626 cases of Syphilis, 524 in men and 102 in women; infections with this disease can be eliminated with antibiotics. Denmark is still working towards ending mother-to-child transmission of Hepatitis B.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, is a form of Lentivirus which causes infections in Humans, spread through sexual intercourse or exchange of blood. Notably, the Virus infects the cells of the Human immune system, where it is hard for that immune system to attack, and eventually leads to a breakdown of the immune system known as AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), during which the body becomes vulnerable to a wide range of infections, including many by micro-organisms which are not usually pathogenic. 

Untreated, HIV invariably leads to AIDS, and AIDS is invariably fatal, but, as with Syphilis, HIV infections can go through long phases of dormancy, leaving infected people unaware that they have the disease. Neither an effective vaccine nor a cure for HIV has yet been developed, however, it is possible to suppress the infection with a combination of anti-viral drugs, allowing patients to lead relatively normal lives, as long as their supply of antivirals is not interrupted. Children born to mothers with HIV are not automatically infected, as the Virus is usually unable to cross the placenta, but there is a high chance of infection during birth if the mother is not receiving treatment.

Scanning electron microscope image of an HIV virion. Hockley et al. (1988). 

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the Spirochaete Bacterium Treponema pallidum. The symptoms of Syphilis can be variable, and it can go through long periods of dormancy, making the disease difficult to diagnose without modern testing methods. Syphilis infection in pregnant women leads to a raised risk of miscarriage, and infants born with the disease are prone to physical deformities, damage to the liver and spleen, and neurological problems. Syphilis can be treated with a range of antibiotics, including penicillin, although the development of a vaccine has proved difficult.

Scanning electron microscope image of Treponema pallidum, the causative agent of Syphilis. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Wikimedia Commons.

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