At least Eleven people have died and ten others are trapped after an explosion in a coal mine tunnel in central Colombiaauthorities reported this on Wednesday.

“An unfortunate tragedy what happened in the Sutatausa mine, where 11 people died. Together with the government of Cundinamarca, we are doing everything we can to save the trapped people alive. A hug of solidarity to the victims and their families,” President Gustavo Petro said on Twitter.

The incident was due to “gassing” that exploded “a spark generated by a pike” of a worker and that caused a chain reaction, as explained by the governor of Cundinamarca, Nicolás García, in an interview with Blu Radio.

“We are still searching and rescuing the ten (people) we have left” who remain trapped. “Every minute that passes is less oxygen time” and it’s “quite hard” to find them alive, he complained.

The explosion took place in a tunnel of six legal mines on Tuesday night “that communicate with each other”said the governor.

Can the Ecuadorian armed forces or police bomb illegal mining camps to deal with this crime?

The National Mining Agency (ANM) said on Twitter that two workers were “rescued alive”.

Rescue against the clock

Mining disasters are particularly common in Colombia in the illegal exploitation of Cundinamarca and other departments in the center and northeast of the country. According to the most recent ANM report, the country recorded 148 deaths from similar accidents in 2021.

The miners trapped in Sutatausa are 900 meters deepwhich complicates the search for the more than 100 rescue workers who are at work, the governor said.

Mining tops Ecuador’s list of ten non-traditional exports; canned fish and metal fabricators complete the stage

Images shared in local media show firefighters and workers from the disaster response service at work at the entrances to the mines. Around, a handful of people have been waiting since dawn for information about their relatives.

Workers from other nearby mines arrived with their yellow suitcases and flashlights to join the rescue efforts. The buildup of gases is the most common cause of mining accidents at Latin America’s largest coal producer.

In June, 15 people died for this reason in a coal mine in the municipality of Zulia, near the border with Venezuela. Oil and mining are the country’s main exports.