Rescuers recover bodies of 11 killed in against the law Colombian mine
Rescuers in Colombia have recovered the bodies of 11 persons killed after an against the law goldmine flooded almost a month ago, the official said Sunday.
The group was trapped on March 26, when the 17-meter (55-foot) deep shaft flooded in much downpour.
“With the mining rescue team… they managed to recover the 11 bodies that already are at the disposal of the authorities,” said National Mining Agency (ANM) president Juan Miguel Duran in a video delivered to the press on Sunday.
The rescue - at first expected to take significantly less than 48 hours - was delayed by further flooding in the region around the mine, on the banks of the Cauca River in a rural area in northwestern Colombia.
The first bodies were recovered early Saturday morning.
Duran expressed his condolences to the victims’ families and needed efforts “in order to avoid other tragedies.”
Mining accidents are normal in Colombia, where income from illegally-extracted gold exceeds that from drug trafficking - practices that funded armed groups that fought a near six-decade conflict from which the country continues to be recovering.
So far this season, 46 miners have died, in line with the ANM, and 171 last year.
