An underground fire and deadly gases are preventing rescue teams from recovering the bodies of illegal miners trapped in Johannesburg's oldest gold mine in Langlaagte. Late yesterday, Mines Rescue Services chief executive officer Christo de Klerk said his team had to put the recovery on hold, and waited for the fire to die and gases to dissipate.Ealier, four of the illegal miners were rescued."We cannot proceed safely, there is no equipment that allows us to go further at this stage," De Klerk said. It is believed as many as seven bodies may lie in the disused mine, which is close to the site where gold was discovered in 1886, resulting in the establishment of Johannesburg.Hours earlier, rescuers using illegal miners as guides had travelled 1.5km to where they believed one of the bodies was situated. But when gases and smoke became too much, a second team with specialised breathing apparatus had to be dispatched. They could not proceed, explained De Klerk, because the tunnel leading to the area became too narrow. The miners, known as zama zamas, got trapped underground on Wednesday last week. Police spokesman Captain Kay Makhubela said: "We will comment on the bodies once they have been brought up [to the surface]."Makhubela said a group of eight illegal miners had gone underground on Wednesday. They were met with a high gas concentration. Another group of eight went to look for them on Thursday, he said. They had since been coming out in ones and twos.At that stage only four illegal miners had been rescued. Two were admitted to hospital while the others were arrested, police said yesterday.But as rescue services attempted to reach the remaining miners, police had to hold back a 150-strong crowd who wanted to enter the mine to help save their colleagues. Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba pleaded with those who had gathered not to enter the mine.The rescuers, or proto team as they are known, have in recent years been increasingly called on to rescue illegal miners. In 2010, four proto team members died in an explosion in a Welkom mine. It is suspected that the cause of the explosion was a booby-trapped bomb left by zama zamas.Yesterday the families of illegal miners believed to be underground waited anxiously for news.Shadrack Mlalazi said he had travelled from home in Zimbabwe after receiving a call that his grandson, Banzi Sibanda, had died."Some of the people who had gone underground found a cellphone is his possession. They called the relatives. I was called and I arrived here this morning," Mlalazi said.Thomas Magwa said he was part of an initial group of 16 that had gone underground on Wednesday.He said he and Taso Regu, both from Zimbabwe, had left others underground. He confirmed that some had died."We have not eaten for three days. We went in with a lot of cool drinks and they are all finished," Magwa said...