Disturbing videos have emerged showing the dire situation at a disused gold mine in South Africa where scores of illegal miners have reportedly been living underground for months. They have been there since police operations targeting illicit mining started last year across the country.

A group representing 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.

An operation to rescue illegal gold miners who are stranded in deep underground shafts in South Africa’s North West province got under way on Monday, ending a months-long standoff over their fate. Civil rights groups say at least 100 people have died from starvation since October when the authorities sealed off shafts at the Buffelsfontein gold mine in Stilfontein,