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.

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

Arguing that the miners had entered the mine without permission, authorities reportedly cracked down by cutting off their access to food and water.