An operation is underway to rescue trapped miners from a gold mine in South Africa | Mining news

The group Mining Affected Communities United in Action says at least 400 men remain trapped in the abandoned mine, where many are believed to have died.

Rescuers have pulled out illegal miners and several bodies from an abandoned gold mine in South Africawhere reports are emerging that hundreds may be trapped and at least 100 may already have died.

A professional mine rescue company sent a large cage into the mine shaft near Stilfontein, about 140 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Johannesburg, on Monday.

“We can confirm to you that the machine is working. It raised seven people,” Mzukisi Jam of the South African National Civic Organization (SANCO) told reporters at the mine.

At least four bodies were also recovered, according to community leader Johannes Cankase.

Sabelo Mnguni, spokesperson for the group Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA), said a mobile phone sent to the surface with some rescued miners on Friday had two videos that showed dozens of bodies underground wrapped in nylon.

Mnguni said “at least” 100 men had died at the mine, where police first launched an operation in November to force miners to leave the illegal operation. The miners are believed to have starved to death or died of dehydration, Mnguni said.

Nine bodies were recovered in a community-led operation on Friday, he said. Another nine were found in an official rescue operation by authorities on Monday, when 26 survivors were also brought out, Mnguni said.

South African Police Service spokesperson Sabata Mokwabone said they were still verifying information on how many bodies had been recovered and how many survivors had been pulled out after a new rescue operation began.

Authorities are now hoping to get any survivors out of the mine.

The mine has been the scene of a standoff between police and miners since authorities first tried to bring the men out and seal the mine two months ago.

Police said the miners refused to leave the Buffelsfontein gold mine for fear of arrest, but MACUA's Mnguni said they were trapped underground after police removed the ropes and pulley system the miners used to climb in and out of the mine.

“The shaft is 2 km (1.2 miles) deep. It is impossible for people to climb up,” said the Magnificent Mndebele of MACUA.

South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper reported that the company leading the rescue operations had designed a special cage that could be lowered up to 3km (1.8 miles) into the mine shaft and the rescue operation – if all goes according to plan – would last 16 days .

MACUA won a court case in December that ordered police and provincial authorities to allow food, water and medicine to be sent to the miners.

Illegal mining is common in parts of gold-rich South Africa, where companies close mines that are no longer profitable, leaving groups of informal miners to illegally enter them to try to find residual deposits.

Large groups of illegal miners often go underground for months at a time to maximize their profits, taking food, water, power generators and other equipment with them, but also rely on others on the surface to send more supplies.

Police said they weren't sure exactly how many illegal miners remained underground, but said it was likely hundreds.

South African authorities have long tried to crack down on illegal mining gangs, which are known as “zama zamas” – meaning “crooks” in the Zulu language – and have a reputation for being aggressive, often armed and part of criminal syndicates.

MACUA's Mnguni said this particular group of trapped miners were not criminals, but former mine workers who were made redundant by the closure of the mines and left desperate.

“The miners go back to the mine because they live in poverty,” he said.