Body seen in video emerging from abandoned shaft

Disturbing video shows the dire conditions at an abandoned gold mine in South Africa, where dozens of illegal miners have reportedly been living underground for months.

They have been there since police began a nationwide crackdown on illegal mining last year.

In a video that has not been independently verified by the BBC, a body can be seen wrapped in a makeshift body bag. The second photo shows the emaciated figures of some of the miners still alive.

A long-delayed rescue operation ordered by a court last week to assist the government began on Monday.

This story contains a video that some people may find distressing.

Last year, authorities took a hard line and blocked food and water supplies on the grounds that miners deliberately entered the Steelfontein mine without permission.

“We’re going to get them out,” a government minister said in November.

More than 100 illegal miners, known locally as “zama zamas”, have reportedly died since the crackdown began on the mine, about 145 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.

However, a spokesman told the BBC that authorities had not confirmed the figure as it had not yet been “confirmed by official sources”.

Hundreds of people are believed to still be in the mine, while more than 1,000 have surfaced in the past few months.

In a video posted by the General Industrial Workers Union of South Africa (Giwusa), dozens of shirtless men can be seen sitting on a dirty floor. Their faces were blurry. A male voice from off-camera says these people are hungry and need help.

“We started showing you the bodies of people who died in the ground,” he said.

“That's not all… you see how people are struggling? Please, we need help.”

In another video, a man said: “This is hunger; people die from hunger.” He then put the death toll at 96 and asked for help, food and supplies.

The union said the video was filmed on Saturday.

At a briefing on Monday near the site of the rescue operation, Giusa leadership and community figures said the video shared “paints a very horrific picture of the situation underground”.

Giusa President Mametlwe Sebei said: “What happened here must be described accurately; it was a massacre in Steelfontein. Because the video shows a pile of human bodies, and the needless deaths of miners.”

He accused authorities of what he called a deliberate “treacherous policy.”

The Department of Mineral Resources, which is leading the rescue effort, told the BBC that Monday's operation involved lowering a cage and then lifting it up after it was filled with people.

The structure is designed to accommodate six to seven people, depending on their weight, Giusa said. It descends about 2 kilometers per hour along the shaft. The union said that as of Monday, 26 miners and nine bodies had been recovered alive.

Ministry of Mineral Resources spokesman Makhosonke Buthelezi could not confirm whether the priority was rescuing the dead or those in need of medical assistance.

The department will hold a briefing with the Police Department on Tuesday to provide an update on the operation.