The clampdown on illegal mining cut off food and water to hundreds of miners underground. At least 78 bodies were pulled from a mining shaft this week, and more are believed to remain underground.

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

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,

Arguing that the miners had entered the mine without permission, authorities reportedly cracked down by cutting off their access to food and water.

The authorities had at one point limited the miners’ access to food, water and other supplies in a blockade that drew criticism from human rights groups.

A deadly siege on an illegal gold mine near Stilfontein, South Africa, has resulted in at least 78 miner deaths, with authorities rescuing 246 survivors. Amidst criticism, the government defends its tactics to combat illegal mining,

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.