South African authorities have recovered the bodies of 60 individuals from an abandoned gold mine, according to police. A months-long effort to remove illegal miners from the site suggests that hundreds more could still be trapped underground.

Months after efforts were launched to remove individuals working in an abandoned gold mine in South Africa, rescuers successfully retrieved 60 bodies and rescued 106 survivors after two days of intensive operations, according to police reports on Wednesday.

"On the second day of the operation, a total of 106 living illegal miners were rescued and arrested for illegal mining. Fifty-one were confirmed dead," police stated in a press release. Nine bodies had been recovered the previous day.

Authorities remain uncertain about the number of miners still trapped inside the illegal mine, though they estimate that the number could be in the hundreds. Many of the miners, who come from neighboring countries, had entered a shaft near Stilfontein, located approximately 140 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Johannesburg. The shaft, once a part of South Africa's mining industry, had been a target for miners seeking leftover gold.

Since operations to clear the mine began in August, a total of 1,576 people have been removed from the shaft, according to the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy. For several months, authorities had cut off food and water supplies from the surface in an attempt to force the miners out, though a court order in November halted these restrictions.

Rescue efforts, which involve lowering a metal cage into the mine shaft to recover both survivors and bodies from over 2 kilometers underground, are expected to continue for several more days, police stated.

Illegal mining commonly occurs in abandoned mines after companies deem large-scale operations no longer financially viable.

On Tuesday, Minerals Minister Gwede Mantashe visited the site and emphasized that it is not the miners themselves who benefit from the illegal gold trade. "These foot soldiers are taking this gold to somebody. That somebody must take responsibility for that," he stated. "Those who profit from gold mining must take full responsibility for the risks involved."

South Africa is home to some of the world's deepest gold mines, some of which extend several kilometers underground, as noted by the Minerals Council South Africa.