Sardinata, Colombia – An explosion tore through a coal mine in remote northeastern Colombia on Saturday, killing at least three miners and trapping 28 more in tunnels filled with deadly gases, a rescue official said.
With family members looking on, masked rescue crews pulled out on stretchers the bodies of three miners found near the entrance to one of two tunnels where the miners were believed trapped.
Fernando Rosales, director of civil defense in Norte de Santander state, said emergency crews have not yet been able to enter the mine.
He said hopes were dim of finding any miners alive because of the extensive damage and the trapped gases.
“There is a lot of gas inside, and we’re in the process of trying to get it out to see if rescue crews can go inside,” Rosales said.
The morning explosion in the remote hamlet of San Roque, 255 miles northeast of Bogota, was caused by “some spark and the gas that was inside” the mine, Rosales said.
Extractor sought
Civil defense authorities pleaded on Caracol Radio for private companies to supply a gas extractor to help remove the large quantities of trapped methane.
Norte de Santander, where the mine is located, is one of Colombia’s most violent states, an area overrun by leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups who often battle one another for control of lucrative drug smuggling routes across the border with Venezuela.
Many mines in this Andean nation are makeshift affairs with few or no safety procedures.
In January 2006, three self-employed coal miners – a 60-year-old father and his two sons – died at a mine in the same region after inhaling poisonous gases.
