At least 100 people have reportedly died in an illegal gold mine in South Africa, as rescue operations continue.

Six more bodies have been recovered from an illegal gold mine in South Africa, where dozens of people have reportedly died underground since authorities tried to force them out and close the mine in November, CBS News partner BBC News reported. The BBC reported that eight people were rescued alive on Tuesday and 26 were recovered on Monday.

A group representing the miners told Britain’s Sky News that more than 100 people illegally mining in the abandoned mine have died since the campaign began. The BBC reported that the crackdown, under the pretext that the miners entered without permission, included preventing the authorities from obtaining food and water.

Last week, the court ordered the government to facilitate the rescue operation.

Videos that appear to have been taken on cellphones inside the mine, then brought to the surface by those rescued, show what appear to be emaciated people and bodies wrapped in makeshift body bags. CBS News was unable to independently verify the videos.

The General Industrial Workers of South Africa, a labor union also known as “Giwusa,” released a video that CBS News has not been able to independently verify that shows dozens of men sitting on the floor with an off-camera voice saying they are hungry and need help.

The voice in the video said: “We have begun to show you the bodies of those who died underground.” “And that’s not all of them…. Do you see how people are suffering? Please – we need help.”

The BBC reported that Geosa leaders described in a press conference on Monday the situation in the mine as a “massacre.”

“What this footage does is show a pile of human corpses of miners who died needlessly,” said Giosa president Mamitlwe Sebe.

The South African Department of Mineral Resources told the BBC that the rescue operation that took place on Monday included lowering a cage into the mine designed to hold six or seven people. It was said that the cage went up and down the shaft every hour.