Some 20 illegal miners were trapped earlier this month, after a gas explosion took place at the mine.
Rescue operations resumed this week after being suspended last Friday.
But these efforts were abandoned again on Thursday following dangerous levels of poisonous gas coming from the mining chamber where the dead are believed to be trapped, one of the rescuers said.
The Guptas left the country for Dubai a year ago, abandoning the mine soon after sensing the noose of state capture allegations was about to be applied to them.
The result, with rampant unemployment in the country, was a group of miners invading the facility to salvage whatever coal they could find to sell on the to market.