Six bodies have been extracted over the past two days from an abandoned mine in the town of Stilfontein in South Africa, where hundreds of clandestine miners are still underground, a community leader told AFP.

“Six bodies were retrieved in two days, four today and two yesterday,” said Johannes Qankase, a spokesman for the nearby township of Khuma, where most of the miners live.

The abandoned gold mines some 150 kilometres (90 miles) southwest of the economic capital Johannesburg have been encircled over the past four weeks by police seeking to dislodge “zama zamas” (“those who try” in the Zulu language) who are working there illegally.

It is unclear exactly how many miners are still underground. A local man said he was told there were around 4,000, though police said the figure was probably in the hundreds.

Authorities have been limiting water and food provisions in an attempt to make them leave the mine.

Thousands of “zama zamas”, many from neighbouring Mozambique and Lesotho, endure difficult conditions to work and live in mineral-rich South Africa.

Some locals associate their presence with a rise in criminality, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called them a “menace” to the country’s economy and security. (AFP)