South African police say a suspected illegal gold mining ringleader escaped from custody with help from police officers about a week after resurfacing from a disused mine in South Africa where 246 survivors were rescued and 78 bodies were retrieved last week.

In mid-January 2024, over 1,000 hunger-weakened miners exited two abandoned mine shafts in Stilfontein, near Johannesburg in South Africa. They had been starved out by the police in Operation Vala Umgodi—meaning "plug the hole"—which had cut off food and water in an effort to "smoke out" a shadow workforce.

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

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.

In South Africa a months long standoff between police and illegal miners in an abandoned gold mine comes to end, with close to 80 found dead in grim recovery operation.

South African police are searching for a Lesotho gang leader, known as 'Tiger', who escaped during a police operation at an illegal gold mine. 78 bodies were found at the site. The gang is accused of hoarding food,

A suspected leader of an illegal gold mining operation in South Africa, James Neo Tshoaeli, has reportedly escaped custody with alleged assistance from police officers. Tshoaeli, who goes by the nickname "Tiger,