Colombia coal blast kills 16 miners, 70 feared dead
09:36, 18 June 2010
AMAGA. June 18. KAZINFORM More than 70 miners were trapped and feared dead in an overnight coal mine explosion in Colombia that killed at least 16 miners, authorities said on Thursday, Kazinform refers to Arab News.
The gas explosion occurred just after midnight at the San Fernando mine in Amaga town in northwestern Antioquia province, far from the major coal operations run by large companies such as Drummond and Glencore near the Caribbean coast.
"This is a huge tragedy, intially we have reports of 72 people trapped and now we have 16 bodies recovered," President Alvaro Uribe said.
Anxious relatives sobbed and hugged each other as they waited for news and asked rescue workers for details as hearses drove past with bodies of miners.
Luz Amanda Pulido, a national disaster official, told local radio there was "practically no" chance of pulling out miners alive from the mine, Kazinform cites Arab News. See www.arabnews.com for full version.