Dead bodies can be seen in the video from the abandoned mine

Disturbing footage has emerged showing the horrific situation at an abandoned gold mine in South Africa, where dozens of illegal miners have reportedly been living underground for months.

They have been there since police operations against illegal mining began across the country last year.

One video, which has not been independently verified by the BBC, shows corpses wrapped in homemade body bags. The second shows the mutilated figures of some miners who are still alive.

A long-term rescue operation, which the court ordered the government to facilitate last week, began on Monday.

Last year, after claiming that the miners entered the Stilfontein mine deliberately without permission, the authorities took a hard line, cutting off food and water supplies.

In November, one government minister said: “We’re going to smoke them out.”

More than 100 illegal miners, known locally as zama zamas, have reportedly died underground since the crackdown began at the mine about 145 km (90 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.

Authorities, however, have not confirmed the figure as it has yet to be “verified by an official source”, a spokesman told the BBC.

Hundreds are believed to still be in the mine, while more than 1,000 have surfaced in the past few months.

In one of the videos released by the General Industries Workers of South Africa (Giwusa) union, dozens of shirtless men can be seen sitting on a dirty floor. Their faces were blurred. A man’s voice is heard offscreen saying that the men are hungry and need help.

“We’re starting to show you the bodies of those who died underground,” he says.

“And that’s not all… See how people struggle? Please, we need help.”

In the second video, a man says, “It’s hunger, people are dying of hunger.” He then put the death toll at 96 and asked for help, food and supplies.

The union says the footage was taken on Saturday.

At a briefing held Monday near the site of the rescue operation, Givusa’s leadership, along with public figures, said the videos shared “paint a very dire picture” of the situation underground.

“What happened here should be called what it is; this is the Stilfontein Massacre. Because these footages show a pile of human bodies of miners who died needlessly,” said Givusa President Mametlwe Sebey.

He accused the authorities of what he called a “treasonous policy” that is being carried out knowingly.

The Department of Mineral Resources, which is leading the rescue operation, told the BBC that Monday’s operation involved lowering a cage that had been raised after people were loaded.

This structure is designed to hold six to seven people, depending on their weight, according to Givusa. He descended the trunk – about 2 km – every hour. The trade union reported that by the end of Monday, 26 miners had been picked up alive along with nine bodies.

Department of Mineral Resources spokesman Mahasonke Buthelezi could not confirm whether the priority would be to bring back those who died or those in need of medical attention.

The department, along with the Ministry of Police, will hold a briefing on Tuesday to announce the operation.