South African police ended a rescue operation at an abandoned gold mine on Wednesday and said they believe they have brought out all the survivors and retrieved all the bodies after hundreds of miners were trapped for months in one of the country's deepest mines while working illegally.

Arguing that the miners had entered the mine without permission, authorities reportedly cracked down by cutting off their access to food and water.

At least 78 dead bodies have been pulled from an illegal gold mine in South Africa where police cut off food and water supplies for months, in what trade unions called a "horrific" crackdown on desperate people trying to eke out a living.

The mine has been the scene of a tense standoff between police and miners since authorities launched an operation to force the miners out by cutting off food and water from the surface.

Over two dozen illegal miners were rescued and at least 15 bodies recovered from an abandoned gold mine in South Africa, as operations continued for a second day Tuesday to

South African authorities lifted the bodies of 60 people from an abandoned gold mine, police have said. Hundreds more people could be underground following a monthslong effort to force them out of the mine.