Americas

Americas

Hopes dim of reaching trapped Colombia miners

18 June 2010 22:13 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Rescuers are again struggling to reach dozens of coal miners trapped in north-western Colombia since a fireball tore through the shaft they were in, APA reports quoting BBC.
The attempt to locate the miners has been suspended several times since the explosion late on Wednesday because conditions are so dangerous.
At least 16 bodies have been brought to the surface and it is thought about 50 others remain underground.
Experts believe there is little or no chance that any of them survived.
Rescue workers at the San Fernando mine in Amaga, Antioquia province have been battling against leaking methane gas and debris from the explosion.
No hope
Workers have been drilling holes into the shaft and pumping in oxygen to ventilate it.
Relatives of the trapped miners gathered at a local sports hall awaiting news of their loved ones, but many have already given up hope.
"It’s impossible that anyone is alive," 28-year-old Diana Sepulveda told Associated Press (AP) news agency.
He husband, 25-year-old Wilson Salinas, had begun work at the mine only eight days before.
"If the explosion didn’t kill him then the gas did because it was very dense," she said.
The blast occurred 6,500ft (2,000m) below ground at 2200 local time (0300 GMT) when miners were changing shift, officials said.
For that reason, the exact number of people inside the mine was unclear, they said.
Safety measures
Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe said he would travel to the area to see the mine for himself soon.
Mining minister Hernan Martinez said records showed the mine did not have a proper ventilation system or gas-detection devices, AP reported.
Colombia is one of the world’s largest coal exporters.
It has the second-largest reserves in South America, after Brazil. According to the US Energy Information Administration, it was the fourth-largest coal exporter in the world in 2008.
Dozens of workers have been killed in explosions at mines, many of which are makeshift.
A methane gas explosion killed eight workers in a mine last year, also in Antioquia province.
In February 2007, a gas explosion at a mine in north-eastern Colombia killed more than 30 workers.
After the blast at the makeshift La Preciosa site, about 580km (360 miles) north of the capital, Bogota, authorities said they would step up their supervision of Colombia’s mines.