Colombia illegal gold mine collapse kills 14 people

Save Share The collapse of an illegal gold mine in southwestern Colombia killed 14 people and injured seven others, local authorities said on Monday. The accident took place in the rural Chambero sector of the Santa Barbara de Iscuande municipality, located in the department of Narino. Search and rescue operations have concluded, Narino Governor Luis Alfonso Escobar said. Jorge Tovar Castillo, a disaster response official in Narino, said that an additional 12 to 15 miners have been reported as missing following the accident. He said that municipal authorities were handling the response but added that communication had been difficult. Santa Barbara de Iscuande is surrounded by dense rainforest and can only be reached by boat or small aircraft. In a message on X, Escobar said the gold mine was an “informal” mine. Informal and unregulated mining is common in rural parts of Colombia, where operations often lack adequate safety infrastructure, leading to frequent fatal accidents. “At this moment our priority is to save lives, accompany families and guarantee an opportune response to this painful tragedy,” Escobar wrote. In August, 13 people died in a similar mining accident in the municipality of Policarpa, also in Narino. Follow Al Jazeera English: