South African rescue workers believe no one is underground anymore in the mine where dozens of workers died. So reports the head of the rescue operation after cameras descended. The death toll is now believed to be 78.

The South African government has launched a rescue operation at an abandoned gold mine in the country’s North West province, where at least 109 men have died, a group representing the miners said, after local authorities cut off vital supplies in a dramatic bid to crack down on the country’s illegal mining trade.

Rescuers and volunteers have pulled at least 78 dead miners and more than 160 survivors from an abandoned South African gold mine