South African rescue workers retrieved 78 bodies from a disused gold mine in Stilfontein where hundreds of illegal extractors have been involved in a months-long standoff with the authorities. Civil rights groups said at least 100 people died from starvation after the mine was sealed off by the security forces to deny those underground access to food to force them to the surface.

The standoff between police and illegal miners in South Africa's Buffelsfontein Gold Mine has led to at least 87 deaths. Authorities faced criticism for cutting off food supplies, leading to charges of starvation and dehydration.

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.

No more illegal miners are believed to be trapped underground at a gold mine in South Africa, volunteers working with rescue teams have said. At least 78 bodies and more than 200 survivors have been pulled out since Monday after a court ordered the government to facilitate rescue operations at the mine,

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.