Hundreds 'face starvation' trapped in illegal gold mine

At least 36 bodies and 82 survivors recovered since Friday at South African pit where miners have been stuck for months

- MOGOMOTSI MAGOME GERALD IMRAY

Rescuers are sending a cage-like structure into one of South Africa's deepest mines in an attempt to bring out survivors among hundreds of illegal miners trapped in an abandoned pit for months.

More than 100 of the miners are believed to have died of starvation or dehydration.

Police said that at least 36 bodies and 82 survivors had been brought out of the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine since Friday, but civic organisations and groups representing the miners said more than 500 were still believed to be underground, many of them ill.

Police said they were uncertain how many remained, but it was likely to be hundreds. Six bodies and eight survivors were recovered early yesterday, said Mzukisi Jam, regional chair of the South African National Civics Organisation, an umbrella for civic and rights groups, who was at the mine.

The mine near the town of Stilfontein, about 90 miles southwest of Johannesburg, has been the scene of a tense stand-off between police, miners and members of the local community since November, when authorities first launched an operation to try to force the miners out.

Reports said some of them had been underground since July or August last year.