The court ordered South African police to stop surrounding gold miners.

(CLO) A South African court has ordered police to stop confronting illegal gold miners and allow rescue workers access to a tunnel where hundreds of people are believed to be hiding.

State broadcaster SABC reported that the Pretoria High Court in South Africa has issued a temporary injunction allowing all miners currently underground at the Stilfontein mine to leave without hindrance.

Yasmin Omar, a lawyer involved in the case, told SABC that the ruling was only a temporary order, and a full hearing would be held next week.

Police and security personnel inspect an illegal gold mine in Stilfontein, South Africa. Photo: AP

Faced with the increasingly dire situation of illegal gold miners surrounded underground, the Pretoria Supreme Court issued an emergency ruling allowing all miners to leave the area.

Police also announced that at least one decomposed body had been discovered in the mine.

The blockade of the Stilfontein mine is part of a growing crackdown by the government and police on the activities of illegal miners in the country.

David Van Wyk, principal researcher at Benchmarks Foundation in Johannesburg, told CNN: "We have around 6,000 abandoned mines across the country." He also stressed that when large companies and multinational corporations don't properly close down mines, these areas become easy targets for illegal gold mining.

Many believe the root of the problem lies in the country's high unemployment and poverty rates, forcing locals to take on dangerous jobs to make a living.

Although the South African Police Agency agrees with the court's decision, they still have the right to arrest illegal gold miners if they do not have health problems.

Police said these illegal activities would continue in abandoned and unused mines in the Stilfontein area, and stressed the need for all illegal gold miners to return to the surface.

According to police, by Saturday afternoon, three illegal miners had escaped from the mine. Also on Saturday, a South African national was arrested in Kanana at a house being used as a gold smelter.

Ha Trang (according to CNN)

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