Outside the mine shaft, anxious relatives are waiting. As part of the fight against illegal mining, the South African government is denying the miners - estimated to be around 4,000 - food and water. According to the police, however, it may be significantly fewer people.
The idea is that hunger and thirst will force them to leave the shaft so that the police can arrest them.
We're not sending any help to criminals. We'll smoke them out. They'll come out, said Cabinet Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni on Wednesday.
On Thursday, a body was removed from the mine shaft, the police announced. Two living people have also been taken out, joining the five who escaped on Wednesday.
Over the past few weeks, over 1,000 illegal miners have escaped from various mine shafts in the North West Province - many of them weak after weeks without food and water.
Illegal mining is common in South Africa's gold mining districts, where prospectors search through closed shafts for valuable leftovers. According to the police, the illegal miners are often from neighboring countries and have been transported there by larger criminal syndicates.
