An explosion ripped through a coal mine on Wednesday in northeastern Colombia, leaving up to 21 miners feared dead.
Fourteen bodies have been recovered, senior Sardinata municipal official Alvaro Silva said in updating the official toll from an earlier count of 11 dead.
The Colombian Institute of Geology and Mines, which sent rescue teams to the scene, held out little hope that the remaining seven miners were still alive.
Search teams earlier removed six bodies wrapped in white plastic bags from the La Preciosa mine.
Officials had said the bodies of four other miners had been recovered and a fifth man died of his injuries after being taken to a local hospital. At least six miners were hospitalized with injuries.
The blast may have been caused by an accumulation of methane gas, Sardinata Mayor Yamil Rangel said.
Colombian Mines Minister Carlos Rodado said the site, the scene of two previous mine disasters since 2007, would be closed “until a probe determines whether it was respecting all the rules.”
It was not immediately clear how many miners were trapped because the explosion ripped through the mine during a shift change, Silva said.
Provincial Governor William Villamizar said a methane blast “exploded like a cannon shot, creating a flame inside the mine.”
At the scene was 63-year-old miner Fabio Veloso, who spoke with disdain of the industry’s safety record. He escaped the explosion by luck, having emerged on a shift break moments earlier.
Two brothers and a cousin were with him when he entered the mine in the morning.
“I’ve been through many experiences where people I know have died,” he said, still unaware of whether his relatives had escaped the blast or died in the accident.
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