Americas

Home page

Americas

Coal mine blasts kill at least 5 in Colombia

24 November 2010 18:07 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Explosions at two small coal mines in Colombia have killed at least five workers after built-up gases underground ignited and caused cave-ins, relief workers said on Wednesday, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
The accidents were far from key coal operations of Drummond, Cerrejon and Glencore’s Prodeco, which ship the majority of output at the world’s No. 5 coal exporter.
In the rural zone of Lenguazaque in the central Cundinamarca province, an explosion at a small mine killed two workers late on Tuesday, rescuers said.
At least three miners died in a second blast in Guacheta town, also in Cundinamarca.
"The incident involved eleven miners, four were wounded, seven were trapped and we have recovered three bodies so far," said Jaime Matiz, emergency director for Cundinamarca.
The explosions were the latest in a series of mine accidents in South America this year, including a collapse in Chile in August that buried 33 workers until they were rescued after two months underground.
In June, an explosion killed around 70 coal miners in one of Colombia’s worst mining disasters.