Nineteen bodies after 32 die in mine explosion

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.

Early efforts to remove the bodies trapped more than 1,300 feet underground by yesterday’s explosion were hampered by poor conditions and toxic gases in the makeshift mine, said Fernando Rosales, director of civil defence in Norte de Santander state.

“Luckily, the conditions have improved greatly and the recovery operation is moving more fluidly,” said Rosales, adding that 19 bodies had been recovered so far.

The mine is located in the remote hamlet of San Roque, 255 miles north-east of Bogota.

Rosales said 31 miners died in the mine and another managed to escape after the blast but later died at a hospital in Cucuta, capital of Norte de Santander.

Dangerous levels of trapped methane had made it impossible for work crews to remain below ground for extended periods.

President Alvaro Uribe was expected to travel to Norte de Santander on today to offer condolences to family members gathered outside the mine, Diego Palacios, Minister of Social Protection, told Caracol Radio.

The explosion was caused by “some spark and the gas that was inside” the mine, said Rosales.

Norte de Santander, where the mine is located, is a violence-ridden state overrun by leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups who often battle each other for control of lucrative drug smuggling routes across the border with Venezuela.

Many mines in this Andean nation are makeshift affairs with few or no safety procedures.

In January 2006, three self-employed coal miners – a 60-year-old father and his two sons – died at a mine in the same region after inhaling poisonous gases.

Other mine disasters in Colombia have been the result of landslides and erosion.

In 2001, at least 37 gold miners were killed after a hillside gave way and swept over them at a strip mine located 120 miles west of Bogota. The mine had been shut down earlier in the year because erosion made it unstable.