Tradegy at Colombian Coal Mine

La Preciosa coal mine located in north-eastern Colombia saw an explosion rip through it killing 17 miners. Six miners who survived had serious injuries and four more are missing in the mine, feared dead.

Officials hold little hope of the missing miners being alive due to the magnitude of the methane blast that sparked the fire inside the mine. The mine owner Jacqueline Sepulveda said that there would be no survivors amongst the missing miners.

The closure of the mine was ordered by President Juan Manuel Santos. Six had died in October 2010 and 32 were killed in 2007 at the same mine. Authorities will now conduct detailed investigations here. The Colombian government said that it did not have the resources to monitor all the 6,000 legal mines in the country.

Mines Minister Carlos Rodado said that they needed more than the current 16 people to monitor the 3,000 mines in operation and yet another 3,000 mines in exploration. The woefully inadequate number would need to be bolstered to help underground mining become a safe profession in the country which is the fifth largest exporter of coal in the world.