South Africa's president is facing calls to order an inquiry into a police operation that was meant to combat illegal mining but ended up leaving 87 miners to die underground as authorities attempted to force them to surrender during a monthslong standoff.

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

At least 100 illegal miners have died of suspected starvation and dehydration after being trapped underground for months in an abandoned gold mine in North