Hundreds of illegal miners holed up in an abandoned gold mine in South Africa without food and water are resisting police orders to come to the surface.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe says that while 1,173 miners in the town of Stilfontein in North West Province have surrendered, hundreds more remain underground, refusing to emerge despite authorities cutting off supplies.
Efforts to persuade the miners continue, though Mathe noted that the mine is hazardous and no officials will enter it.
"We cannot support crime by providing food and essentials to an active crime scene," she said, emphasizing the need to stop aiding the illegal activities.
'Smoke them out'
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni stressed that no aid would be given, adding that security forces will smoke out illegal miners to force them to come out and they will be apprehended.
"We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out," she emphasised.
More than 1,000 illegal miners resurfaced in recent weeks after police cut off their food and water supplies, but a police spokesperson said hundreds more could still be underground.
It was unclear if those remaining in the mine in Stilfontein, North West province, were unwilling or unable to get out of the shaft, which descends vertically for more than 2 km (1.2 miles) underground.
Police and community members stood around the rocky entrance, where a pulley had been set up to hoist men out.
A decomposed body was brought up on Thursday, with pathologists on the scene, spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said.
Illegal mining operations conducted by illegal miners, known locally as "zama zamas," are common in South Africa’s abandoned gold and diamond mines and frequently linked to criminal activity.
Illegal gold mining costs South Africa's government and industry hundreds of millions of dollars annually in lost sales, taxes and royalties, according to an estimate by a mining industry body.
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