Colombia: seven miners killed by an explosion in a coal mine
Steph Deschamps / April 23, 2023
An explosion in a coal mine in central Colombia on Thursday killed seven people, authorities said Friday after finding the bodies of four miners who were missing.
"According to the latest report (...) we have found four lifeless bodies that we are recovering", said to the press Alvaro Farfan, of the fire department of the department of Cundinamarca (center).
The accident occurred on Thursday around 01:00 am in the municipality of Cucunuba, some 90 kilometers north of Bogota.
According to the authorities, the explosion that occurred in a tunnel connecting the mines El Roble and El Manto, would be due to an accumulation of gas inside the galleries.
The same day, the rescue services found the bodies of three miners and, since then, they have been looking for four other trapped workers.
These tragedies are frequent in Colombia, especially in the illegal mines of Cundinamarca and other departments of the center and northeast.