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Twelve miners were killed in a flooded underground coal mine in northeastern Colombia, the world’s fourth-largest exporter of the mineral, local officials and rescue workers said yesterday. |
Flooding in the mine, located in the Amaga municipality in Antioquia, a region that has been the site of various mining accidents in recent years, occurred on Thursday afternoon.
“We know that all the miners are dead,” said Carlos Mario Usma, the municipality’s environmental director. “They were trapped at more than 200 meters, and the cavern is completely flooded.”
A perforation made in a subterranean water source during mining activities seemed to have caused the flooding, Usma said.
“The mine flooded, 12 people were trapped, 28 managed to escape,” said Isabel Posada of the Amaga mayor’s office. “We are waiting for the recovery of the bodies.”
Rescue workers have begun efforts to remove the miners’ remains.
Local police learned about the tragedy in Amaga through an emergency call informing that there had been explosions inside the La Cancha mine which caused a water container to burst leading to subsequent flooding.
In the wake of the disaster, dozens of relatives of the miners have gathered around the entrance since 5pm on Thursday.
The Amaga mining zone has been in use for centuries. Coal mining is the main economic activity in the area, but there are also gravel and clay mines.
Accidents in Colombian gold and coal mines have increased in recent years, due in part to a growth in illegal mining and safety failures. An explosion in a coal mine killed 73 people in June 2010, the country’s worst mining disaster.
