Fourteen miners trapped by accident in a mine in Colombia

• Colombian flag/file photo

14 workers are trapped in a coal mine in the Colombian municipality of Zulia, on the border with Venezuela, after an explosion, local authorities reported this Tuesday.

“We are all worried because there are 14 miners inside and they don’t tell us if they are alive (or) dead,” Belén Contreras, wife of of one of the men trapped in the rubble.

Along with the other family members, Contreras waits in tears for news of the rescue in the rural area where the mine is located, which exploded. by an accumulation of “methane and coal dust,” according to the state-run National Mining Agency (ANM).    

“We do not lose faith and hope that these 14 people are there. trapped it may be that we find them alive,” said Manuel Pradilla, mayor of El Zulia, in an interview with the RCN channel. 

According to Catalina Gheorghe, who leads The ANM search operation “is a very difficult rescue” and “it will surely take several more days.” 

One of the workers who was outside the mine was hit by the blast wave and is recovering from several burns in a hospital in the area, he added. Pradilla. 

The secretary of Health of the municipality, Gerson Hoyos,  that the mine operates legally and “belongs to the Carbomax complex,” in the border department of Norte de Santander.  

Aid agencies are working to rescue the miners, while their family members wait in the surroundings of the explosion site, according to images released in local media. 

Mining and oil are the main export products of Colombia.

Colombia, the fourth largest economy in Latin America, registered last year 148 deaths in mining accidents.