Rescuers have sent a cagelike device into one of South Africa’s deepest gold mines to bring out survivors among hundreds of miners working illegally in an abandoned shaft who have been trapped for months.

Authorities launched an operation in November to force the illegally operating miners out by cutting off food and water from the surface for a time. Hundreds are thought to remain underground.

The mine near the town of Stilfontein has been the scene of a tense standoff between police, miners and the public