South African police say they will continue to arrest illegal miners emerging from a disused gold mine where hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people are hiding.

This followed a court order saying the mine at Stilfontein, about 90 miles (145 km) southwest of Johannesburg, should not be closed.

Emergency services have been in the area for several days. Police are preventing food and water from entering the mine in an attempt to “smoke them out”, as one government minister put it.

The miners, who have been underground for a month, have so far refused to leave the mine for fear of arrest. Among them are undocumented immigrants who fear deportation.

Some South Africans have heavily criticized the government’s harsh policy, and in recent days the police have been allowing it. volunteers to come down to see the miners and some receive small amounts of food and water.

On Saturday, a court in Pretoria ruled that the mine “must be unblocked and cannot be blocked by the government or any private person or entity”.

It was also stated that everyone in the mine should be allowed to exit and that “no personnel can enter the mine shaft except in an emergency.”

Three of the miners emerged on Saturday, and one of them was hospitalized for medical treatment. The other two were arrested.

Some reports suggest that miners resorted to eating vinegar and toothpaste to survive. Volunteers said they pulled a body from the mine on Thursday.

According to the AFP news agency, police have called in experts to assess the integrity of the mine shafts and make a decision on whether to force an evacuation.

Yasmin Omar, a lawyer who helped bring the case, told public broadcaster SABC that the ruling was an interim order that “will at least allow us to deliver emergency aid to people who need it”.

He said a full hearing on the matter will be held on Tuesday.

“These people underground are dying,” Omar said, adding that the decision means authorities “must do everything reasonable to provide medical care to people underground.”

In a statement, the South African Police Service (SAPS) welcomed the court decision, stressing that it did not prevent police officers from making arrests.

The following statements were made in the statement: “Those who resurface will continue to be evaluated on-site by emergency medical personnel, as before.

“Those who are in good health will be processed and taken into custody. Those who need medical attention will be hospitalized under police supervision.”

SAPS added that as of 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Saturday, three of the miners had resurfaced.

More than 1,000 miners have already been exposed and arrested.

South Africa is a mineral-rich country. According to official estimates, it holds approximately 30% of the world’s gold deposits and 88% of all platinum deposits.

However, in recent years many mines have closed and miners have been laid off; this has contributed to a black market that costs the South African government hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

While gold remains a valuable commodity, power outages and rising mining costs due to deep deposits have made the vast majority of mines unprofitable, according to the Minerals Council of South Africa, an industry body.

To survive in conditions of poverty, miners and undocumented immigrants are increasingly entering closed mines to dig out the remaining mineral deposits.

Some remain underground for months, and illegal mining has given rise to a small economy that supplies miners with food and cigarettes.

However, authorities want to put an end to this practice. Illegal miners are sometimes recruited and armed by criminal gangs.

SAPS had previously stated that people from Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe were among those from the Stilfontein mine.

The force has launched a nationwide operation aimed at combating illegal mining and related criminal activities.

It was stated that at least 565 people emerged from a mine in Orkney, southwest of Johannesburg, on 3 November.

But the South African Human Rights Commission said on Friday it had launched an investigation into the SAPS’ handling of the Stilfontein mine incident following complaints that the blockade may have violated miners’ right to life.