Colombia: Mud torrent drowns mine – At 12 dead

The torrential rains that hit the northwest Colombia caused a torrent of mud that buried a mine in El Porvenir, killing 12 people, while two others are missing. “We have twelve dead (…) and there are two more missing,” said Hector Urego, mayor of Abriaki in Antioch prefecture, where the disaster struck.

Some workers “were having lunch, others were getting ready to go to rest, some were finishing their work when the flood hit,” he told local television station Telantioquia.

According to the first aid services, the disaster was due to the sudden overflow of a river in the mountainous area. The search and rescue operation of the two missing people was stopped until this morning due to the bad weather conditions.

“For several weeks now, winter has been relentless (…). In a neighboring village, Santa Teresa, there was also a threat flood. “We had to evacuate houses and we hope that nothing more serious will happen,” said Mr Urego, adding that some 20 families had been displaced.

The mine is legal

The El Porvenir mine was operating legally, with the permission of the authorities, according to the local official, who did not provide details about the types of ores mined there.

“A team of professionals is on its way” to the site of the disaster, said the local branch of the national disaster management service.

President Ivan Duque expressed “solidarity with the families of the victims” via Twitter. “Rescue agencies are conducting (…) search operations for the missing,” he added.

In early February, a landslide caused by heavy rains had killed 14 people and injured dozens more in central-western Colombia.