South African police have launched a manhunt for the “king” who is suspected of controlling the operation of an abandoned gold mine where 78 bodies were found last week.
The police force said the officers helped James Neo Tshoaeli, a native of Lesotho who is also known as Tiger, to escape after being taken out of the mine in Stilfontein.
More than 240 illegal miners have been brought alive in this mine after it has been blocked by the police for months.
The police had cut off food and water in an attempt to force them out of the mine.
Some of the miners accused Mr Tshoaeli of being guilty of “murder, assault and torture” undercover, a police statement said on Monday.
Mr Tshoaeli is suspected to have been collecting food for other miners, most of whom appeared thin and weak when they came out of the pit.
Police Commissioner Patrick Asaneng warned that “heads will roll” if they find the officials who helped Mr Tshoaeli escape, said a police statement.
Speaking on the South African channel Newsroom Afrika, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said the force was disappointed and disappointed.
Mrs. Mathe said that an investigation has been started regarding the escape incident and the investigation will start with the police “looking inside”.
After months of being blocked from entering the Stilfontein mine, the court ordered the government to carry out the rescue operation last week.
On Thursday, as the rescue was about to end, Ms Mathe said it would be a huge task to identify the 78 bodies found – because most of them were undocumented immigrants.
The miners have been working underground since November last year, when the police began a nationwide operation aimed at digging illegal mines.
Thousands of illegal miners, known as “zama zamas” (“those who try their luck” in Zulu), work in mineral-rich South Africa.
The mine in Stilfontein – about 145 kilometers (90 miles) south-west of Johannesburg – has now been cleared of both dead bodies and people alive, police said.
The trade union and rights activists accused the authorities of being responsible for the “massacre”.
But the police defended their action saying that they are facing a crime and they are the officials in charge of illegal mines who were controlling the movement of goods trying to stop people from waking up again.
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