\n<\/p>\n
Six more bodies have been pulled up from a South African mine as efforts continue for a second day to help scores of illegal miners still thought to be at least 2km (1.2 miles) underground, a national umbrella body for NGOs, Sanco, has told the BBC.<\/p>\n
Eight people came out alive on Tuesday adding to the 26 rescued on Monday after they were hoisted up the disused mine shaft in a cage operated by a crane at the surface. Nine bodies were recovered on Monday.<\/p>\n
The men have been underground since police operations targeting illicit mining started last year across the country.<\/p>\n
Last week a court ordered the government to facilitate a rescue operation that had been long-delayed.<\/p>\n
This story contains a video that some people may find distressing.<\/em><\/p>\n Last year, arguing that the miners had entered the shaft in Stilfontein deliberately without permission, the authorities took a hard line, blocking food and water supplies.<\/p>\n In November, one government minister said: “We are going to smoke them out.”<\/p>\n More than 100 of the illegal miners, known locally as “zama zamas”, have reportedly died underground since the crackdown began at the mine some 145km (90 miles) south-west of Johannesburg.<\/p>\n The authorities however, have not confirmed this figure as it is yet to be “verified by an official source”, a spokesperson told the BBC.<\/p>\n On Monday disturbing videos emerged showing the dire situation at the disused gold mine.<\/p>\n In one of the films, which the BBC has not independently verified, corpses wrapped in makeshift body bags can be seen. A second shows the emaciated figures of some miners who are still alive.<\/p>\n Hundreds are thought to be still in the mine while more than 1,000 have surfaced in the past few months.<\/p>\n In one of the videos released by a trade union, the General Industries Workers of South Africa (Giwusa), dozens of shirtless men can be seen sitting on a dirty floor. Their faces have been blurred. A male voice off camera can be heard saying that the men are hungry and need help.<\/p>\n “We’re starting to show you the bodies of those who died underground,” he says.<\/p>\n “And this is not all of them… Do you see how people are struggling? Please we need help.”<\/p>\n In the other video, a man says: “This is hunger; people are dying because of hunger.” He then puts the death toll at 96 and begs for help, food and supplies.<\/p>\n The union says the footage was filmed on Saturday.<\/p>\n In a briefing held on Monday near the site of the rescue operation, Giwusa leadership, alongside community figures, said the videos shared “painted a very dire picture” of the situation underground.<\/p>\n “What has transpired here has to be called what it is; this is a Stilfontein massacre. Because what this footage does is show a pile of human bodies, of miners that died needlessly,” Giwusa president Mametlwe Sebei said.<\/p>\n He blamed the authorities for what he described as a “treacherous policy” that was deliberately pursued.<\/p>\n The department of mineral resources, leading the rescue effort, told the BBC that Monday’s operation included lowering down a cage that is then hoisted up once loaded with people.<\/p>\n This structure is designed to hold six or seven people, depending on their weight, according to Giwusa. It has been going down the shaft every hour.<\/p>\n