Six bodies were recovered as rescue operations continued

Six more bodies have been recovered from a mine in South Africa as efforts continued for a second day to help dozens of illegal miners believed to remain at least 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) underground, a national umbrella body for NGOs, Sanco, said. For BBC.

Eight people emerged alive on Tuesday, in addition to 26 people rescued on Monday after being hoisted to the top of the abandoned mine shaft in a cage operated by a crane on the surface. Nine bodies were recovered on Monday.

The men have been in hiding since police operations targeting illegal mining began last year across the country.

Last week, a court ordered the government to facilitate the long-delayed rescue operation.

This story contains video that some may find distressing.

Last year, the authorities took a hard line, arguing that miners had deliberately entered the mine in Stilfontein without permission, and blocked food and water supplies.

In November, a government minister said: “We will get rid of them by smoking.”

More than 100 illegal miners, known locally as “Zama Zamas”, have reportedly died underground since the crackdown began at the mine, located about 145 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.

But the authorities have not confirmed this number because it has not yet been “verified by an official source,” a spokesman told the BBC.

Alarming videos emerged on Monday showing the dire situation at the abandoned gold mine.

In one film, which the BBC has not independently verified, bodies can be seen wrapped in makeshift body bags. The second shows the emaciated forms of some of the miners still alive.

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

In one video posted by the General Industrial Workers Union of South Africa (GIUSA), dozens of shirtless men can be seen sitting on a dirty floor. Their faces became blurred. A man's voice can be heard off camera saying that the men are hungry and need help.

“We started showing you the bodies of those who died underground,” he says.

“And these are not all of them… Do you see how people are suffering? Please, we need help.”

In the other video, a man says: “This is hunger. People are dying of hunger.” He then estimates the death toll at 96 and asks for help, food and supplies.

The union says the footage was filmed on Saturday.

At a press conference held on Monday near the site of the rescue operation, GYUSA leadership, along with community figures, said the videos shared “painted a very bleak picture” of the underground situation.

“What happened here should be called what it is; it is the Stilfontein massacre. Because what this footage shows is a pile of human corpses, of miners who died needlessly,” said Giosa president Mamitlwe Sibe.

He held the authorities responsible for what he described as the “treacherous policy” they deliberately followed.

The Department of Mineral Resources, which is leading the rescue effort, told the BBC that Monday's operation included lowering and then raising a cage after loading it with people.

This structure is designed to hold six or seven people, depending on their weight, according to Giusa. He went down the shaft every hour.