By Nellie Peyton and Bhargav Acharya STILFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) -At least 78 dead bodies have been pulled from an illegal gold mine in South Africa where police cut off food and water supplies for months,

A group representing informal miners in South Africa says least 100 men who were mining illegally in an abandoned gold mine have died after being trapped deep underground for months while police tried to get them out.

The number of illegal miners who’ve died in a months-long standoff with the South African authorities increased to 51, the security forces said.Most Read from BloombergThese Homes Withstood the LA Fires.

By Nellie Peyton and Bhargav Acharya STILFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) -At least 78 illegal miners have been pulled out dead from a South African mine where police blocked food and water supplies for months in what trade unions described as a "horrific" state crackdown on desperate people trying to eke out a living.

A group representing informal miners in South Africa says at least 100 men who were mining illegally in an abandoned gold mine have died after being trapped deep underground for months while police tried to get them out.

One hundred and eighteen illegal miners have been extracted from the Stilfontein mine in South Africa on Monday and Tuesday as part of a rescue operation, of which 36 were certified as dead, police said in a statement on Tuesday.

The prospectors were trapped underground for months as police, on orders from South Africa’s government, attempted to starve them out.

Using a cage-like device, South African rescuers have brought at least 60 bodies and 92 survivors to the surface from one of the country's deepest mines.

South African rescuers have pulled out 36 dead bodies and 82 survivors from a gold mine deep underground in two days of operations, police said on Tuesday, adding that the survivors would all face illegal mining and immigration charges.