A body was brought out of an abandoned South African gold mine as police tried to evict hundreds of illegal miners hiding out in the workings.

An estimated 4,000 illegal gold miners are hiding underground in South Africa after the government cut off food and water in an effort to "smoke them out" and arrest them. The miners have been in a mineshaft in Stilfontein,

Illegal mining continues to be widespread in South Africa, where miners enter abandoned shafts to search for remaining deposits.

Several hundred people were believed to be in an illegal mine in South Africa on Thursday with the government refusing to help them in a bid to force them to come to the surface.

South African authorities are engaged in a standoff with hundreds of illegal miners inside a closed mine in the country's North West province, having cut off their food and water supplies as part of a strategy to "smoke them out". The miners in Stilfontein ...

The South African government will not assist illegal miners trapped in a closed mine, denying them basic supplies as part of a crackdown on illegal mining.

South Africa's government says it will not help an estimated 4,000 illegal miners inside a closed mine in the country's North West province who have been denied access to basic supplies as part of an official strategy against illegal mining.

South Africa’s government says it will not help about 4,000 illegal miners inside a closed mine in the country’s North West province as part of an official policy against illegal mining.

South Africa's government says it will let thousands of illegal miners starve until they accept their fate and emerge from an abandoned shaft to face arrest.

South African police and ambulances were at the site Thursday of an old gold mine shaft where around 4,000 illegal miners were claimed to be underground, facing arrest if they surface.