Sawt Falasteen - Death toll at illegal S.African mine reaches 78

Authorities began trying to remove the bodies and bring up survivors on Monday, after residents voiced fears that over 100 people may have died in the mine in Stilfontein, about 140 kilometres (90 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.

At least 216 people have emerged alive in the first three days of the operation while 78 bodies were retrieved, police said in a statement.

All 84 of the miners rescued on Wednesday were arrested, police said.

The mine runs 2.6 kilometres underground and a specialised machine was brought in Monday to lift out the miners and the bodies, a handful of people at a time.

South Africans call these miners "zama zamas" -- "those who try" in the Zulu language. They are often migrants from neighbouring countries, accused by residents of criminality.

Police have voiced fears that hundreds more could remain underground, but at a visit to the site Tuesday, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu declined to estimate how many might be there.

"There is no way on earth anyone can come and say: 'I know for certain that there are so many'," he said. "Every number that we have here is an estimate, is a guess."

A video sent to AFP on Monday by Macua, a group that advocates for the miners, appeared to show dozens of corpses wrapped in cloth in the mine chambers.

- Gold, explosives confiscated -

Illegal miners had taken over the shaft that was once part of South Africa's vast mining industry.

No longer viable for commercial mining, the men entered illicitly, hoping to ease their poverty by finding remnants of gold.

Minerals Minister Gwede Mantashe, on a visit to the site Tuesday, called the miners "foot soldiers" for those who really profit from the illegal trade.

More than 1,500 illegal miners have been arrested at Stilfontein since August, when authorities first started to remove them. South Africa has deported 121 of them, police said.

Another 46 people have been convicted of illegal mining, trespassing and immigration act offences, police said. They face fines or prison terms.

Police also confiscated a trove of gold, explosives and firearms.

Authorities had at one point tried cutting off food and water supplies to the mine, to force out the miners. But a court ordered in November that police must end all restrictions at the shaft, allowing people above ground to resume lowering food and water to those below.

X.AbuJaber--SF-PST