On Thursday afternoon, the National Mining Agency of Colombia verified that of the seven missing miners were found dead after the coal mine explosion Thursday morning in the municipality of Cucunuba.
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Governor Nicolas Garcia verified that the explosion that occurred in the department of Cundinamarca within the Colombian municipality, resulted in a minimum of seven miners being unaccounted for.
“We have a report from the rescue team stating that they pulled out alive four trapped miners, who are being taken to the hospital, while we continue the search and rescue for seven other miners,” Garcia said in a video posted on Twitter.
The detonation transpired at approximately 1:00 a.m. in interconnected mines within the region of Pueblo Viejo.
Seven miners were trapped inside a coal mine in central Colombia following an overnight explosion in one of its tunnels, officials said Thursday.
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April 20, 2023
The Minister of Mines and Energy, Irene Velez, expounded through social media that the National Mining Agency, the Civil Defense, the Public Force, and the fire department’s squads were actively engaged in the rescue operation
“It has been difficult to enter the mines because toxic gases have been discharged, such as carbon monoxide, methane gas and coal dust … in mines with a depth of more than 900 meters,” Captain Alvaro Farfan, representative of the Cundinamarca fire department, told local media.
The Captain explained that the affected mines are known as El Roble, El Condor, and El Manto. Furthermore, according to the Captain, the accident causes are still under investigation.