By Siyabonga Sishi and Nellie Peyton STILFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) - South African rescuers were making final efforts on Thursday to ascertain whether anyone was left in an illegal gold mine deep underground where at least 78 people died during a police siege,

The South African government has launched a rescue operation at an abandoned gold mine in the country’s North West province, where at least 109 men have died, a group representing the miners said, after local authorities cut off vital supplies in a dramatic bid to crack down on the country’s illegal mining trade.

Rescuers are sending a cage-like structure into one of South Africa’s deepest mines in an attempt to bring out survivors among hundreds of illegal miners trapped for months in an abandoned shaft

At least 100 illegal miners have died and more than 400 remain trapped underground after a months-long standoff with police, rights groups say.View on euronews

Officials in Pakistan say rescuers have recovered the bodies of 11 coal miners who died last week after a methane gas explosion caused a coal mine to collapse in the country's southwest.

By Nellie Peyton and Xolani Nhlapo STILFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) -South African rescuers ended their attempts on Thursday to find anyone left in an illegal gold mine where at least 78 people died during a police siege,

Authorities launched an operation in November to force the illegally operating miners out by cutting off food and water from the surface for a time. Hundreds are thought to remain underground.