A South African court ordered police to end a standoff with illegal miners to allow emergency workers to gain access to a mine shaft where several hundred are believed to remain after the government cut off vital supplies.

Around the gaping shaft of a disused mine, the South African police on Saturday waited to pounce on anyone trying to escape to the surface. Their siege has gone on for weeks, trying to flush out hundreds of men accused of illegal mining in an abandoned gold mine,

A community rescue effort to help illegal miners trapped in a mine shaft in South Africa emerged after police said they wouldn't help.

A standoff between police and illegal miners has gotten heated in South Africa. Reports say hundreds of illegal miners, who entered an abandoned mine in search of leftover gold, refuse to come out for fear they may be arrested.