By: NHK world

Police in South Africa are urging hundreds of illegal miners who have been holed up in an abandoned gold mine for more than one month to surrender.

Unlawful mining is rampant in resource-rich South Africa. Some of the proceeds are reportedly used to fund criminal organizations.

The standoff at the disused mine in the northern region of Stilfontein is still going on. Police officers have laid siege to the area. They are also limiting the amounts of food and water that are being sent to the workers who are stranded underground.

Most of the miners are believed to be illegal migrants from neighboring countries, who came to dig up gold deposits at the mine.

More than 1,000 workers have surrendered so far. But hundreds more are said to be underground. They reportedly fear that they will be arrested or deported.

Four men from Mozambique came to the surface on Monday, and they were promptly questioned by the police.

The men later told NHK that they ate toothpaste and cockroaches to survive.

One of the men said that he hardly worked while he was underground. He said he just sat around because there was no food.

The man added that he saw many dead bodies in the mine. He said sometimes people he thought were sleeping turned out to be dead.