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Rescuers sent a cage-like structure down into one of South Africa's deepest gold mines on Tuesday to bring out survivors among hundreds of illegal miners trapped for months in an abandoned shaft.

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

Civic organisations and groups representing the miners say that at least 24 bodies and 34 survivors have been brought out of the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine since Friday, but more than 500 miners are still believed to be underground, many of them ill and starving. Police said they are uncertain how many remain, but it is likely to be hundreds.

Six of the bodies and eight survivors were recovered early Tuesday, said Mzukisi Jam, the regional chairperson of the South African National Civics Organization, an umbrella for civic and rights groups. Jam was at the mine.

The mine near the town of Stilfontein, southwest of Johannesburg, has been the scene of a tense standoff between police, miners and members of the local community since November, when authorities first launched an operation to try and force the miners out. Relatives of the miners say some of them have been underground since July.