Families gather at South African mine shaft where hundreds are feared underground

Community members watch as Senzo Mchunu, South African police minister, inspects outside the mineshaft where it is estimated that hundreds of illegal miners are believed to be hiding underground, after police cut off food and water as part of police operations against illegal miners, in Stilfontein, South Africa, November 15, 2024. REUTERS/Ihsaan Haffejee


STILFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) - Desperate family members of illegal miners believed to number in the hundreds waited outside a disused mine shaft in South Africa on Friday in the hope of their loved ones emerging from the hole in the ground.

The miners are in a standoff with police, who have blocked their supplies of food and water and are trying to force them out to arrest them for illegally entering the abandoned mine in search of leftover gold - a common problem in South Africa.