Dozens of volunteers entered an abandoned gold mine in South Africa to help thousands of illegal miners who have been underground for a month.

Authorities took a heavy-handed stance, blocking food and water supplies as miners deliberately entered the mine at Stilfontein, desperate to extract gold or mining residue.

A government minister said earlier in the week: “We will destroy them.”

Miners refused to cooperate with authorities because some were undocumented immigrants and feared deportation or arrest.

There are reports that miners ate vinegar and toothpaste to survive underground.

It is feared that their health will deteriorate and they will become too weak and weak to leave the mine.

Volunteers, divided into three groups of 50 people, say it takes about an hour to get one person out.

Lebogang Maiyane has been working as a volunteer since the beginning of the week.

“The government does not care about the impact on the right to life of illegal miners who remain underground; this is tantamount to murder,” he said.

Illegal miners are called “zama zama” (“try your luck” in Zulu) and operate in abandoned mines in the mineral-rich country. Illegal mining costs the South African government hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales each year.

Many South African mines have closed and workers have been laid off in recent years.

To survive, miners and undocumented immigrants go underground to escape poverty and mine gold to sell on the black market.

Some remain underground for months; There is even a small human economy selling food, cigarettes and cooked meals to miners.

Local residents begged the authorities to help the miners, but the authorities refused.

“We will smoke them out. They will come out. We are not sending aid to criminals. Criminals should not be helped – they should be persecuted (sic),” Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said on Wednesday.

Relatives of the miners staged a protest near the mine site, carrying banners saying “Extinguish the ANC” and “Down with the Minister in the Presidency”.

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu visited the site on Friday but was chased away when he tried to speak to community members waiting for news of their loved ones at the well.

Thandeka Tom, whose brother was in the mine, criticized the police for not sending help.

“They speak from a privileged perspective, there is unemployment in the country and people are breaking the law trying to put food on the table,” he told the BBC.

The police are reluctant to enter the mine because some of the people underground may be armed.

Busi Thabane, of the Benchmarks Foundation, a charity that monitors companies in South Africa, told the BBC’s Newsday program that some were part of criminal organizations or had been “recruited” to join an organisation.

Conditions underground are said to be very poor as there is no access to supplies.

“This is no longer about illegal miners, this is a humanitarian crisis,” Ms Thabane said.

On Thursday, community leader Thembile Botman told the BBC that volunteers used ropes and harnesses to remove a body from the mine.

“The smell of rotting corpses traumatized the volunteers,” he said.

It is unclear how the person died.

Authorities blocked food and water but temporarily allowed local residents to send some supplies down by rope.

Mr. Botman said they communicated with the miners through notes written on pieces of paper.

Police blocked the entrances and exits to force the miners to leave.

This is part of the Vala Umgodi or “Closing the Hole” operation to curb illegal mining.

Five miners were roped out on Wednesday, but they were weak and weak. The individuals who were intervened by medical teams were later detained by the police.

Last week, 1,000 miners were discovered and arrested.

Police and the military are still at the scene to detain people who do not need medical care after surfacing.

“This is not as easy as the police make it seem; some fear for their lives,” Ms Thabane said.

Many miners spend months underground in unsafe conditions to provide for their families.

“For many, it’s the only way they know how to put food on the table,” Ms Thabane said.

The South African Human Rights Commission announced that it would launch an investigation into the police who deprived miners of food and water.

It was stated that there are concerns that the government’s operation may affect the right to life.

Illegal mining is a lucrative business in many of South Africa’s mining towns.

Since December last year, nearly 400 high-caliber firearms, thousands of bullets, uncut diamonds and money have been seized from illegal miners.

This is part of an intense police and military operation to stop the practice, which has serious environmental impacts.

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