A South African High court in Pretoria has temporarily ordered police to end a standoff with illegal miners and allow emergency workers to gain access to a shaft where hundreds are believed to be holed up.

The Court, said in an interim ruling that all miners underground in the mine in Stilfontein should be allowed to leave and no one should block their exit.

The interim ruling, before a full hearing later this week, follows growing concerns about the well-being of the illegal miners – who can spend months below ground – after police cut off food and water supplies.

The police force said that operations would continue at all abandoned and disused mining shafts in the Stilfontein area and repeated their request for all illegal miners to voluntarily resurface.

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