Rescuers sent a cage-like structure down into one of South Africa’s deepest gold mines on Tuesday to bring out survivors among hundreds of illegal miners trapped for months in an abandoned shaft. More than 100 are believed to have died of starvation or dehydration.

More than two dozen illegal miners have been rescued and at least nine bodies recovered from an abandoned gold mine in South Africa, as rescue operations resumed Tuesday to reach potentially dozens

Illegal mining continues to be widespread in South Africa's old gold-mining regions, where miners enter abandoned shafts to search for any remaining deposits.