By Nellie Peyton

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 20 (Reuters) - South African police have launched a manhunt for a Lesotho gang member believed to have controlled operations at an illegal gold mine where 78 bodies were recovered last week during a police siege, from which he escaped.

The alleged kingpin, known as "Tiger," surfaced from the mine in Stilfontein while it was under police surveillance and escaped from custody with the help of officials, a statement from the South African Police Service said on Monday.

"Extensive investigations and tracing operations are underway to find those officials who aided his escape between shaft 11 and the Stilfontein police holding cells," the statement said.

Police were widely condemned for the months-long operation in which they cut off food and water supplies to the miners in an attempt to force them out of the mine to face arrest.

The stand-off culminated in a state-sponsored rescue operation last week in which 246 survivors were retrieved from the deep mine, many of whom were emaciated and weak from hunger.

But police claim the gang leaders were to blame for the deaths, citing reports from some miners who said there was food underground but the kingpins kept it for themselves.

Thousands of people are believed to be involved in illegal gold mining in abandoned industrial mines in South Africa in search of leftover gold. Some of the workers spend months at a time underground.

The lucrative industry is known to be run by Lesotho-based gangs, and police say some of the workers are illegal immigrants recruited from neighbouring countries without knowledge of what they have come to do.

Tiger was named in statements by miners as a ring leader who ran operations, the police statement said.

"He is also being accused by some illegal miners... (as) being allegedly responsible for some deaths, assault and torture that is alleged to have taken place according to videos in police possession. He is also alleged to have hoarded and kept food away from other illegal miners," it said.

(Reporting by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Alexander Winning and Bernadette Baum)

((nellie.peyton@thomsonreuters.com))