South African police officers killed more than 30 striking workers at a Lonmin PLC platinum mine who charged a line of officers trying to disperse them, authorities said Friday. The shooting Thursday is one of the worst in South Africa since the end of the apartheid era. Police ministry spokesman Zweli Mnisi told The Associated Press on Friday that more than 30 people were killed. He said an investigation into the shooting near Marikana, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Johannesburg was underway. The shooting happened Thursday afternoon after police failed to get the striking miners to hand over machetes, clubs and other weapons.