In South Africa a months long standoff between police and illegal miners in an abandoned gold mine comes to end, with close to 80 found dead in grim recovery operation.

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.

South African rescuers ended their attempts on Thursday to find anyone left in an illegal gold mine where at least 78 people died during a police siege, as a local volunteer described the horror of extracting their bodies from deep underground.

A rescue team in South Africa has finished a recovery operation to find more than 200 miners trapped in an abandoned gold mine. CBS News foreign correspondent Chris Livesay reports.

Police say the death toll in a monthslong standoff between authorities and miners trapped while working illegally underground at an abandoned gold mine in South Africa has risen to at least 87.

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.

Police say the death toll in a monthslong standoff between authorities and miners trapped while working illegally underground at an abandoned gold mine in South Africa has risen to at least 87

South African authorities have come under intense scrutiny for their response after civic groups said hundreds of miners have been trapped deep in an abandoned gold mine for months, with more than 100 of them believed to have died of starvation or dehydration.

Rescue teams in South Africa have stepped up efforts to pull out survivors and the corpses of illegal miners trapped underground for about two months, following one of the most extraordinary tragedies to hit the industry.