Crews battling toxic gases recovered 30 bodies from a makeshift coal mine in Colombia following an explosion that killed 32 miners, a civil defence official said.

Crews battling dangerously high levels of methane gas recovered 19 bodies from a coal mine in north-east Colombia following an explosion that killed 32 miners, a civil defence official said today.

An explosion tore through a coal mine in remote north-east Colombia today, burying at least 31 miners in tunnels filled with toxic gases, a rescue official said.

A Spanish official with the European Commission who was kidnapped more than a month ago in Colombia has been found safe in Venezuela after escaping from his captors, Colombian authorities said today.