An explosion that roared through a makeshift coal mine has killed 32 miners in northeast Colombia, most still buried in gas-filled tunnels below ground, a civil defense official said.
Yesid Arias, who is helping to coordinate the rescue operation, made the announcement shortly before midnight on Saturday after rescue crews recovered three bodies. They located 29 more bodies buried about 400m underground but were unable to safely remove them from the mine in the remote hamlet of San Roque, 410km northeast of Bogota.
"We have orders to work through the night and recover the bodies as quickly as possible, but unfortunately there's still plenty of trapped methane gas that's making it unsafe for work crews to stay underground for any extended period of time," Arias said.
Family members, who had rushed to the mine shortly after the Saturday morning explosion, were relocated to the nearby town of Sardinata, where they awaited news.
The morning explosion was caused by "some spark and the gas that was inside" the mine, said Fernando Rosales, director of civil defense in Norte de Santander state.
Norte de Santander, where the mine is located, is a violence-ridden state overrun by leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups.
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