No more illegal miners are believed to be trapped underground at a South African gold mine, volunteers working with rescue teams said.
At least 78 bodies and more than 200 survivors have been recovered since Monday after a court ordered the government to facilitate rescue operations at the mine, the site of one of the most extraordinary tragedies to hit the industry.
Police said they would check to make sure no one was left behind on Thursday, when a rescue cell would be sent to the mine.
The standoff began in November when the government ordered police to arrest any miner who came to the surface, saying it was determined to end illegal mining.
This story contains video that some people may find disturbing.
During a visit on Tuesday, the police and mines ministers were heckled and told to leave by an angry mob that blamed the government for the deaths.
Police said more than 1,500 miners surfaced before the rescue operation began, Reuters reports.
However, others remained underground either because they feared arrest or were forced to stay there by gangs that control the mine.
A spokesperson for the South African Police Service said of the volunteers' statement that no one was underground any more: “We will be relying on the Mine Rescue Service to confirm this with their state-of-the-art equipment, which we hope can give us a picture of what what happens underground.
“The Mine Rescue Service has confirmed that they will send the cage underground in the morning to see if there are any illegal miners coming to the surface with the cage. We cannot say for sure that the operation has been stopped at this stage.''
Many mines in South Africa have been abandoned over the past three decades by companies that did not find them economically viable.
The mines are taken over by gangs, often ex-employees, who sell recovered minerals on the black market.
This includes the Stilfontein mine, about 145 km (90 miles) southwest of the country's largest city, Johannesburg, which has been at the center of government efforts to curb the illegal industry.
A rescue cage is being lowered down a shaft to reach dozens of miners believed to be at least 2km (1.2 miles) underground.
Many of the survivors had been without food and water since November, leaving them emaciated. They are currently receiving medical attention.
Authorities say they will be charged with illegal mining, a violation of immigration laws because most of the miners are undocumented migrants from neighboring countries.
“This is a crime against the economy, this is an attack on the economy,” said Mines Minister Gwede Mantashe on Wednesday as he defended the hard line taken against the miners.
South Africa relied heavily on miners from countries such as Lesotho and Mozambique before the industry went into decline.
Unemployment in South Africa is currently more than 30% and many former miners say they have no alternative source of income.