The miners are suspected to have died of starvation and dehydration, although no causes of death have been released.

South African rescuers ended their attempts on Thursday to find anyone left in an illegal gold mine where at least 78 people died during a police siege, as a local volunteer described the horror of extracting their bodies from deep underground.

The prospectors were trapped underground for months as police, on orders from South Africa’s government, attempted to starve them out.