South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is facing calls to order a national inquiry into a police operation that was meant to combat illegal mining but ended up leaving 87 miners to die underground as authorities attempted to force them to surrender during a monthslong standoff.

The prospectors were trapped underground for months as police, on orders from South Africa’s government, attempted to starve them out.

Arguing that the miners had entered the mine without permission, authorities reportedly cracked down by cutting off their access to food and water.