JOHANNESBURG – The South African government said Friday it has formed a team, including mine rescue experts, to devise a plan to get to the surface. illegal miners those trapped under an untapped gold mine.

The move signaled that the government was taking a more conciliatory approach than earlier this week, when it said it would not send aid to miners working at the disused Stilfontein gold mine in the North West province. Authorities blocked the entrances to the mine where food, water and other basic needs were delivered to them, as part of the government’s strategy to force them to return to the surface and be arrested.

Authorities had said that the operation, called “Closing the Hole”, would “smoke” miners out of the mine shaft. There is no official estimate of the number of miners remaining in the mine, but police have said as many as 4,000 miners may be underground, based on local information.

But a police spokesman said on Thursday they believed the number was exaggerated and perhaps much less than that, with a figure estimated at between 350 and 400 miners.

A government delegation led by police minister Senzo Mchunu visited the site of the disused mine on Friday to engage with the community and relatives of miners working underground.

While Mchunu insisted that illegal miners were committing crimes, he said the government also wanted to save their lives.

“We need a much faster process because it is risky and dangerous for them to stay where they are for longer,” Mchunu said.

Mchunu said they were informed that the mine was 2,500 meters (more than 8,000 feet) deep and the process of removing people from there was very dangerous. He added that his team was also wary of the fact that miners might be heavily armed.

A team of mine safety experts, police, military and various government departments are scheduled to meet on Friday to prepare a plan, while mine safety experts are expected to make an urgent assessment of the situation.

According to police, 369 firearms, 10,000 rounds of ammunition, 5 million rand ($275,000) in cash and uncut diamonds worth 32 million rand ($1.75 million) have been seized from illegal miners since the start of the government operation.

More than 1,000 miners turned up at various mines in the North West province, with many reportedly weak, hungry and sick after being left without basic necessities for weeks.

While some family members of illegal miners have pleaded with the government to allocate resources and expertise to get them out, community members have also taken some miners back themselves this week.

A decomposed body believed to be that of one of the miners was brought to the surface on Thursday, and police said they were still trying to determine the person’s identity and cause of death.