South African police are hunting an alleged illegal mining "kingpin" who escaped from prison last week during a rescue operation that unearthed 78 bodies from an illegal gold mine.

Lesotho national James Neo Tshoaeli, accused by other illegal miners of being a ringleader, was allegedly responsible for underground attacks, torture and deaths, as well as denying others access to food, the South African Police Service said.

Police said Zoeli was neither detained nor taken to any local hospital for treatment, calling his escape an "embarrassment." "It will come as a surprise once the officers who helped the kingpin escape police custody are found," they said. "Tiger is a fugitive and is considered dangerous."

In late 2023, police launched Operation Vala Umgodi (Plug the Loops) in an attempt to eradicate illegal mines in South Africa's northeastern mining belt. Police blocked the delivery of food, water and medicine to underground workers, trying to force them to the surface so they could be arrested.

Earlier this month, the government launched a rescue operation after reports of bodies turning up at an illegal gold mining site near Steerfontein. Over four days last week, cranes winched 246 survivors and 78 bodies from the 1.2-mile-deep shaft. Local volunteers said they had previously rescued nine dead miners using a manual rope pulley system.

Activists and relatives of the miners accuse South African authorities of carrying out what they call a "massacre" of starving people unable to reintegrate into society. Officials said the men were known as stay (Those who have tried it), Could have exited through another mine, but stayed underground to avoid capture.

In recent years, illegal miners have flocked to mining sites that South African mining companies abandoned because they were no longer commercially viable. Analysts estimate there could be 30,000 stay 10% of South Africa's gold production comes from 6,000 abandoned mines, often controlled by violent criminal groups.

According to police, 1,907 illegal miners have emerged from abandoned gold mines around Steelfontein since August 18. The majority were from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho, with only 26 from South Africa. Police accused a Lesotho national of leading the operation.

"There are people who voluntarily go into mines to do some illegal activities and die in the mines in the process," South Africa's Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. "And then to come back and say the state is responsible for this, in my opinion, is wrong."

Reuters contributed to this report