South Africa’s government says it will not help a group of illegal miners inside a closed mine in the country’s North West province as part of an official policy against illegal mining.

A body was brought out of an abandoned South African gold mine as police tried to evict hundreds of illegal miners hiding out in the workings.

Officials are hoping the strategy will force the workers out of the mineshaft and to the surface, where they will be arrested.

Police in the North West have confirmed that three more suspected illegal miners have emerged from an abandoned mine shaft in Stilfontein.

An estimated 4,000 illegal gold miners are hiding underground in South Africa after the government cut off food and water in an effort to "smoke them out" and arrest them. The miners have been in a mineshaft in Stilfontein,

South Africa's government says it will let thousands of illegal miners starve until they accept their fate and emerge from an abandoned shaft to face arrest.

South African police and ambulances were at the site Thursday of an old gold mine shaft where around 4,000 illegal miners were claimed to be underground, facing arrest if they surface.