BOGOTÁ — A landslide at an unlicensed gold mine in southwestern Colombia killed 14 people and injured seven, regional authorities said.
The accident occurred on Monday near the town of Santa Barbara de Iscuande, the Nariño government said in a statement. Search operations were called off on Monday night.
The provincial government said the incident underscored the dangers of informal mining, noting that two mine collapses in Nariño over the past three months had claimed 27 lives.
Located amid dense rainforest, Santa Barbara de Iscuande can be reached only by boat or small aircraft, making it difficult for emergency responders to access the area.
Armed groups in Narino, an illegal mining hotspot on the border with Ecuador, control the clandestine gold trade as well as trafficking drugs and engaging in extortion.
Videos shared on social media show people and a backhoe evacuating bodies from the mine to a canoe on a nearby river.
Narino’s Peace and Security Secretary Alex Gonzalez gave the revised death toll to the Caracol television channel, adding that the search for survivors had ended.
Rescue teams struggled to reach the site due to the difficult terrain and the presence of criminal groups, the governor’s office said.
“Communities have no other economic alternatives than these extremely risky activities. Traditional small-scale mining has practically disappeared,” a source from the office told the AFP news agency.
Locals in the municipality where the mine collapsed on Monday have reported selective killings carried out by armed groups over suspicions of collaboration with security forces and rival organizations, or of stealing gold.
Source: Saudi Gazette