The death toll in a monthslong standoff between police and miners trapped while working illegally in an abandoned gold mine in South Africa has risen to at least 87, police said Thursday. Authorities faced growing anger and a possible investigation over their initial refusal to help the miners and instead “smoke

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

At least 100 illegal miners have died of suspected starvation and dehydration after being trapped underground for months in an abandoned gold mine in North

Residents desperately waiting for news of family members gathered at the mine, some holding placards criticizing authorities for their response.

South African authorities have ome under intense scrutiny for their response after civic groups said hundreds of miners have been trapped deep in an abandoned gold mine for months

Rescuers continued retrieving bodies Wednesday from an abandoned South African gold mine with hundreds more still believed to be underground, many of them dead and others too weak to come out on their own.

A rescue mission is underway for the hundreds of illegal miners thought to still be underground in a disused shaft in South Africa