A court says emergency workers must be allowed to enter a mine where hundreds are thought to be without food and water.

A South African court ordered police to end a standoff with illegal miners to allow emergency workers to gain access to a mine shaft where several hundred are believed to remain after the government cut off vital supplies.

According to a Franklin County dispatcher, the incident started in Waynesboro, around 9 a.m. Sunday, on the 200 block of Hamilton Avenue.