An explosion in a coal mine tunnel in central Colombia killed 21 miners. It is already considered one of the worst tragedies in recent years in the country with frequent accidents of this type, according to local authorities this Thursday (16).

The explosion took place on Tuesday evening (14) in a coal mine tunnel in the municipality of Sutataousa, in the department of Cundinamarca, about 75 km north of Bogotá. On Wednesday, rescuers found 11 more bodies (15).

A coal mine accident in Colombia killed 21 people. Photo: Daniel MUNOZ/AFP

“Unfortunately, 21 people died in this tragic accident in Sutatauz,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro tweeted.

This Thursday (16th) the governor of the department of Cundinamarca, Nicholas Garcia, closed the search. “Unfortunately no one is left alive, our hearts are broken,” he tweeted.

Landslides that blocked passage through the tunnels have hampered the rescue efforts of dozens of rescuers in the tunnels of six interconnected shafts that collapsed in an explosion on Tuesday.

The final death toll of 21 makes the tragedy one of the worst in recent years in Colombia, where more than 1,200 disasters of this type were recorded between 2011 and 2022.

The mining license of Minminer, a Colombian company operating in the tunnels where the accident occurred, has been suspended “while all investigative processes are ongoing,” Sutataous Mayor Jaime Arévalo told Blu Radio.

victim profile

Since Wednesday, miner families have been posting pictures of the dead on social media, most of them young people.

Some workers who escaped from the rubble told AFP about the chaos that followed the explosion.

“I felt like I was about to drown and I couldn’t see anything,” said Joselito Rodriguez, one of the lung victims.

Sutathousa and nearby municipalities have a long tradition of mining. Its residents are prone to these activities, which offer higher rewards than the base salary of just over $200.

More than 2,000 of the area’s 6,400 people are involved in coal mining, according to Arevalo’s mayor. The mining industry employs at least 130,000 people in the country, according to the Ministry of Mining and Energy.

Methane gas

According to authorities, the accident in Sutausas was caused by a spark that exploded concentrated methane in one of the tunnels. It is now being investigated whether the site, which has legal mining licenses, had adequate airflow conditions.

To prevent methane “from becoming explosive, ventilation processes are needed, a monitoring system that allows you to alert and make decisions that will have to be reconsidered, whether they exist or not,” explained the director of the National Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD), Javier Pava, on the institutional channel.

“There should be a risk management plan” and training for miners in case of an emergency. “This is the part that needs to be revisited,” he added.

Public organizations constantly condemn the poor working conditions of miners in national and multinational companies.

President Petro is implementing an “energy transition” plan to phase out coal and oil exploration. He also announced that he would submit to Congress a draft labor reform that would extend benefits to workers.

“Every death at work is not only a failure in business, but also a social and state failure,” the president wrote after reporting the deaths in Sutaousas.

Tragedies in Colombia’s mining sector are frequent, especially in the illegal exploration of Cundinamarca and other departments in the center and northeast, near Venezuela.

According to Pava, 23 gold miners have died in the country this year. “It is unacceptable that we have so many people dying in such activities, which are very dangerous, but we need not only rules, but also fundamental solutions,” he criticized.

Oil and minerals are Colombia’s main exports.