The clampdown on illegal mining cut off food and water to hundreds of miners underground. At least 78 bodies were pulled from a mining shaft this week, and more are believed to remain underground.

South African officials have arrested more than 100 miners who had been trapped in an illegal gold mine and will detain hundreds more still stuck underground, the country’s mining minister said, despite a judge’s warning that the ordeal risks turning into “the darkest point” in the country’s history following dozens of deaths.

By Nellie Peyton and Bhargav Acharya STILFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) - At least 78 dead bodies have been pulled from an illegal gold mine in South Africa where police cut off food and water supplies for months,