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.

An estimated 4,000 illegal gold miners are hiding underground in South Africa after the government cut off food and water in an effort to "smoke them out" and arrest them. The miners have been in a mineshaft in Stilfontein, in the North West province, for about a month.

South Africa’s government says it will not help an estimated 4,000 illegal miners inside a closed mine in the country’s North West province as part of an official policy against illegal mining.

Officials are hoping the strategy will force the workers out of the mineshaft and to the surface, where they will be arrested.

South Africa’s government says it will not help about 4,000 illegal miners inside a closed mine in the country’s North West province as part of an official policy against illegal mining.

South African police and ambulances were at the site Thursday of an old gold mine shaft where around 4,000 illegal miners were claimed to be underground, facing arrest if they surface.

Police closed off the entrances for moving supplies underground, cutting off miners’ supplies to force them to resurface and be arrested.

Upwards of 4,000 illegal miners are believed to be inside an abandoned shaft in the country's North West province. A government minister warned, "we are going to smoke them out." South Africa's government says it is not willing to help around 4,

Over 4,500 illegal miners are trapped underground in an inactive gold mine in Stilfontein, located in South Africa's North West Province, which borders Botswana. Rescue operations have been halted due to heavy rains.