Colombia: Fourteen people were killed and seven others injured after an illegal gold mine collapsed in southwestern Colombia, local authorities said on Monday.
The accident occurred in the rural Chambero sector of the municipality of Santa Bárbara de Iscuandé, in Nariño province.
Nariño Governor Luis Alfonso Escobar expressed his condolences in a post on X, saying the accident had occurred at a “non-formal, artisanal mine”.
Search and rescue operations have concluded, Escobar said.
The governor called on the national government, the National Mining Agency and the Ministry of Mines and Energy to accelerate the formalisation process for illegal and small-scale miners to improve working conditions and safety standards.
Nariño’s Peace and Human Rights Secretary, Alex González, told Noticias Caracol that no people remained missing.
Part of the open-air mine collapsed, triggering a landslide that buried people working at the site in Santa Bárbara de Iscuandé, González said.
The official called for the regulation of informal mining, saying the issue affects the entire Colombian Pacific region.
