Emergency services reported this Friday that three more bodies were recovered from a mine in the Norte de Santander department, near the Venezuelan border. Eight workers remain missing, and the death toll has risen to seven. The Mine Safety and Rescue Group of the National Mining Agency stated that the recovered bodies have not yet been identified, and the most recent corpses were transported to Bocamina at 7:50 PM.
With this latest update, authorities confirm that of the 15 workers affected by the incident at the La Mestiza mine, seven had died and eight remain missing. Officials also noted that one victim was misidentified. Legal medicine later confirmed the deceased as Omar Arias, not Víctor Alfonso Sánchez, clarifying the casualty roster.
The blast originated from methane emissions and coal dust at a mine in El Zulia, about an hour and a half from Cúcuta, last Monday. The explosion caused the main entrance slope to collapse, trapping workers and releasing high levels of carbon monoxide that hindered ground access for rescuers. Because the main access failed, rescue efforts concentrated on the lower ventilation level, which led to several further collapses as authorities struggled to control methane concentrations.