Five illegal miners have been found dead in an abandoned shaft near Johannesburg, emergency services said on Wednesday.

It highlighted the dangers of scavenging for bullion beneath Africa’s financial centre.

Two illegal migrants from Zimbabwe died earlier this month in another disused gold mine in the outskirts of Johannesburg.

Emergency services spokesman, Robert Mulaudzi, said the five bodies were brought to surface on Tuesday night and were confirmed dead at the scene.

The bodies were recovered in an old shaft in Roodepoort, just west of Johannesburg.

“We can’t confirm the cause of death yet, it could have been a number of things,” said Mulaudzi.

Driven by desperation and poverty in a country with an unemployment rate of around 25 per cent, illegal miners chance their luck in the labyrinth of some of the world’s oldest and deepest gold mines.

The miners are often armed with little more than a torch and pick-axe.