A miner who spent six months in a disused mine in South Africa has spoken of the horror he experienced after a police operation cut off food and basic supplies to thousands who were illegally digging for gold.

South African rescue workers retrieved 78 bodies from a disused gold mine in Stilfontein where hundreds of illegal extractors have been involved in a months-long standoff with the authorities. Civil rights groups said at least 100 people died from starvation after the mine was sealed off by the security forces to deny those underground access to food to force them to the surface.