By Nellie Peyton and Bhargav Acharya STILFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) -At least 78 illegal miners have been pulled out dead from a South African mine where police blocked food and water supplies for months in what trade unions described as a "horrific" state crackdown on desperate people trying to eke out a living.

Months after South Africa’s government began an operation to flush out hundreds of people from an illegal gold mine near Johannesburg, police pulled out 60 bodies as part of a search-and-rescue effort,

A group representing informal miners in South Africa says 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.

The number of illegal miners who’ve died in a months-long standoff with the South African authorities increased to 51, the security forces said.Most Read from BloombergThese Homes Withstood the LA Fires.

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.

By Nellie Peyton and Siyabonga Sishi STILFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) -South African rescuers have pulled out 36 dead bodies and 82 survivors from a gold mine deep underground in two days of operations,

One hundred and eighteen illegal miners have been extracted from the Stilfontein mine in South Africa on Monday and Tuesday as part of a rescue operation, of which 36 were certified as dead, police said in a statement on Tuesday.