Six coal miners lost their lives in an explosion caused by a methane buildup in a tunnel in central Colombia, local authorities announced on Friday.
“We regret to inform you that six people who had been trapped in the El Porvenir 1 mine in Cucunúva were found dead during rescue operations,” said Jorge Emilio Rey, governor of the Cundinamarca department, via the X platform. According to the same official, a seventh miner managed to escape the tunnel on his own.
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An investigation into this particular mine was already underway by the National Mining and Quarrying Authority (ANM), which had in fact ordered the suspension of operations for safety reasons.
In the wider region, which is not far from the capital, Bogotá, hundreds of small coal mining operations are in operation, sometimes illegally or with expired permits. Explosions caused by gas buildup in the tunnels are a common occurrence, mainly due to inadequate ventilation.
This latest tragedy comes at a particularly difficult time for the Latin American country, as the frantic search for hundreds of missing people continues following the powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck its western region on Monday.
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