Bodies pulled from Caldas

By bogotapost May 27, 2015

No survivors found after illegal gold mine collapse


Emergency workers have recovered the bodies of the remaining miners killed in a collapsed illegal mine on an indigenous reservation in central Colombia, bringing the official toll to 15 dead, authorities said Monday.

The mine in the northwestern municipality of Riosucio, in Caldas, caved in on May 13 after a suspected power outage or explosion deep underground. Soon after, the mine began to fill with water, and a race to save the miners ensued.

The tragedy came a day after the Colombian military arrested 59 people in a raid on 63 illegal mines in the Amazon, near Colombia’s border with Venezuela and Brazil.

The crackdown dismantled a guerrilla financing network thought to be worth 20 billion pesos ($8 million USD), reports said.


By Maddie Elder

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