South African police were in a standoff on Thursday with hundreds of illegal miners believed to be underground in a disused shaft, a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to "smoke them out".

Police say they are trying to force the miners — believed to have been underground for several weeks — to resurface

Desperate relatives of possibly hundreds of illegal miners stuck underground in a disused mine shaft in South Africa waited outside the site on Friday in the hope that their loved ones would emerge safely.

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.

The move by the government is part of Operation Vala Umgodi, or "Close the Hole", which is directed at illegal mining activities.

A body was brought out Thursday of an abandoned gold mine shaft in South Africa where hundreds of illegal miners were believed to be underground, facing arrest if they surface, police said.

Illegal miners are called "zama zama" ("take a chance" in Zulu) and operate in abandoned mines in the mineral-rich country. Illegal mining costs the South African government hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales each year. Many South African mines have closed down in recent years and workers have been sacked.

South Africa’s government will not help the illegal miners inside a closed mine as part of an official policy against illegal mining

The South African government says it has put together a team including mine rescue experts to come up with a plan to bring to surface illegal miners who remain under a disused gold mine

South Africa's government says it will let thousands of illegal miners starve until they accept their fate and emerge from an abandoned shaft to face arrest.