Rescue teams in South Africa have stepped up efforts to pull out survivors and the corpses of illegal miners trapped underground for about two months, following one of the most extraordinary tragedies to hit the industry.

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 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.

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, in what trade unions called a “horrific” crackdown on desper

South African officials have arrested more than 100 miners who had been trapped in an illegal gold mine and will detain hundreds more still stuck underground, the country’s mining minister said, despite a judge’s warning that the ordeal risks turning into “the darkest point” in the country’s history following dozens of deaths.

Hundreds are still trapped at the Stilfontein gold mine, a rights group said. Authorities tried to flush out the miners by depriving them of food and water.

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.

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

Food and other supplies were cut off to those inside the mine by local authorities who want the miners to surrender to police because they were mining illegally.