South Africa’s police have launched a manhunt for an alleged "kingpin”, who is accused of controlling operations at an abandoned gold mine where 78 corpses were discovered last week.
The police force said officials had helped James Neo Tshoaeli, a Lesotho national also known as Tiger, to escape after he was pulled up from the mine in Stilfontein. More than 240 illegal miners were brought up alive from the mine after it had been blockaded for months by the police.
Officers had cut off food and water supplies in an attempt to force them out of the mine.
Some of the miners accused Tshoaeli of being responsible for "deaths, assault and torture” underground, a police statement said on Monday.
Tshoaeli is also alleged to have hoarded and kept food away from the other miners, many of whom appeared emaciated and weak when they surfaced from the shaft.
Police commissioner Patrick Asaneng warned that "heads will roll” once they find the officials who helped Tshoaeli escape, the police statement said. In a candid appearance on South African channel Newzroom Afrika, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said the force was "disappointed” and "embarrassed”.