Colombia Mine Explosion Traps Workers Underground

Colombia Mine Blast Leaves 4 Trapped Underground  Colombia Mine Blast Leaves 4 Trapped Underground 
Colombia Mine Blast Leaves 4 Trapped Underground. Credit: Reuters.

At least four workers have been trapped underground following an explosion at a coal mine in central Colombia, authorities said on Sunday, just days after a similar accident in the region killed nine people.

The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon at the Las Quintas mine in Pueblo Viejo, located in the Cucunubá municipality, according to Jorge Emilio Rey, governor of the department of Cundinamarca.

Rey said in a post on X(formerly Twitter)  that four workers were confirmed trapped following the blast.

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Colombia Mine Blast Leaves 4 Trapped Underground 
Colombia Mine Blast Leaves 4 Trapped Underground. Credit: Twitter.

“This Saturday afternoon, an explosion occurred at the #LasQuintas mine, located in the Pueblo Viejo rural area of the #Cucunubá municipality. For now, four trapped workers are reported: Yimir Ramos Rodríguez, Wilder Didier Guerrero Villamil, Segundo Manuel Delgadillo Castellanos, and Yorman Sneider Briceño López,” Rey posted. 

The Cundinamarca Risk Management Office said emergency response teams had been deployed to the site as rescue operations continued.

Local media reported that the trapped miners were believed to be approximately 500 metres underground.

The cause of the explosion has not yet been determined, although mining accidents are frequent in the region, often linked to poor ventilation and unsafe conditions in illegal or small-scale operations that lack proper permits.

Earlier, on May 4, another underground coal mine explosion in Sutatausa, also in Cundinamarca, left nine people dead, while six others were rescued alive.

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