Story highlights More miners are freed Monday after two days in the mine 
 
 Rescuers say a total of 24 have been freed; a handful are still underground 
 
 Miners who are freed are taken into custody after medical checks 
 
 Miners were working in a long-abandoned gold mine illegally, authorities say 
 
 More miners were freed Monday after being trapped for two days in an illegal gold mine in South Africa, authorities said. 
 
 After some miners surfaced, authorities said a total of 24 had been freed, according to rescuers from ER24 emergency medical service. The miners said they were trapped on Saturday, and the rescue effort began on Sunday. 
 
 But a handful of others still underground were refusing to come out because they feared being arrested, the rescuers said. 
 
 One miner was trying to persuade the approximately six miners who were still underground to come up, ER24 said. 
 
 The mine is an abandoned gold mine in Benoni, just outside Johannesburg. 
 
 Those who have surfaced were taken to a medical station and checked for injuries, and once they cleared, were taken into custody by local police, ER24 said. 
 
 The miners who've emerged are in good health, officials said. 
 
 Earlier, boulders blocking the miners from exiting the mine were removed, ER24 reported. 
 
 Initially ER24 spokesman Werner Vermaak said that a rockslide trapped the miners. But Govan Whittles, a reporter for South Africa Eyewitness News at the scene, said the miners told rescuers that a rival group dropped boulders down the shaft to trap them. 
 
 Police looking for illegal dumping heard the men crying for help. 
 
 Gold-rich South Africa has repeatedly warned its citizens against trying to dig into old mines. Illegal mining "poses a danger not only to the miners themselves, but to the communities, as well as the economy and existing mines," Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said in September. 
 
 South Africa's Parliament has discussed legalizing the illegal mines to allow the miners to earn a living, but the cost of bringing the mines up to modern safety codes could be prohibitive. 
 
 READ: Eight bodies found after South Africa gold mine fire 
 
 READ: 10 killed, 2 rescued in China coal mine flooding 

 BENONI, South Africa (Reuters) - A dozen South African illegal miners were brought to the surface on Sunday after being trapped in an abandoned gold mine near Johannesburg, but an unknown number remained underground because they feared arrest, an emergency services spokesman said. 
 
 “Twelve have been rescued so far,” ER24 spokesman Werner Vermaak told Reuters. 
 
 Those brought to the surface were checked by medics and then handed over to the police. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. 
 
 Rescue operations ceased as darkness fell but private mine security guards were stationed around the shaft and police were also on hand to arrest any other miners who came out. 
 
 A police patrol in the semi-rural Johannesburg suburb of Benoni, where gold has been mined for decades, had been alerted by shouts from the trapped miners. 
 
 Vermaak initially said some of the trapped group had told rescuers that 200 more illegal diggers were deeper in the mine, and the exact number who remained was not known. 
 
 A crane was used to shift a large concrete slab that was obstructing the shaft belonging to the Chinese-owned bullion producer Gold One, which has prospecting rights to the mine but is not currently working it. 
 
 Illegal mining of abandoned shafts is common in South Africa, where informal miners excavate ore to sell, often living underground in dangerous and precarious conditions. Fatal accidents are common, and underground battles between rival groups have also been reported. 
 
 Slideshow (7 Images) 
 
 Gold One spokesman Grant Stuart said the miners had been trapped in the “New Kleinfontein 6” ventilation shaft. 
 
 “The illegal miners have dug a tunnel right next to it to access the shaft and it has collapsed behind them,” he said, adding that heavy rain may have triggered the collapse. 
 
 Gold One delisted last month from the Johannesburg and Australian bourses after all of its share capital was acquired by BCX Gold Investment Holdings, a Chinese consortium.
– About a dozen miners have been freed from a mine in South Africa since getting trapped there yesterday, but others are refusing to emerge because they don't want to be arrested for illegal mining, Reuters and CNN report. One miner is trying to convince about 19 others to surface, but rescuers have given up trying to help for now. Only police and mine security officials are staying behind. Those who have come up were given quick medical checks (no injuries so far, officials said) and taken into police custody. Initial reports of 200 trapped miners were apparently false, and sources are disputing just how the collapse occurred. Initially rescuers said it was a rockslide; now a rescuer says the boulders were dumped down the shaft by a rival group to trap them. Gold One, the Chinese bullion-producer that owns the shaft, blamed the miners for digging an illegal tunnel beside the shaft that collapsed behind them. Illegal gold mining is common in South Africa, where the Parliament has talked about sprucing up illegal mines so people can work there—but costs were considered prohibitive.