Officials are hoping the strategy will force the workers out of the mineshaft and to the surface, where they will be arrested.

The body has emerged a day after South Africa's government said it would not be helping the miners - who have had their supplies of food and water cut off as police try to force them to resurface.

Authorities in South Africa have cut off supplies to nearly 4,000 illegal gold miners hiding underground, as the government is making an effort to "smoke them out" and arrest them, officials announced Thursday.

South Africa's government says it won't help a group of illegal miners inside a closed mine in the country's North West province who have been denied access to basic supplies as part of an official strategy against illegal mining.

An estimated 4,000 illegal gold miners are hiding underground in South Africa after the government cut off food and water in an effort to "smoke them out" and arrest them. The miners have been in a mineshaft in Stilfontein,

Up to 4,000 illegal miners are estimated to be underground in an abandoned mine while South African authorities try to clear them out and arrest them. View on euronews