Venezuela: illegal mine collapses and leaves at least 25 dead in the state of Bolívar

An illegal mine located in a remote location in the south Venezuela It collapsed, leaving a provisional balance of around 25 dead and another 15 injured, local authorities said this Wednesday. Family members awaited news in Puerto Guacara, in La Paragua, around 750 km southeast of Caracas and where boats left for the “Bulla loca” mine, around seven hours away by river.

Yorgi Arciniegamayor of the municipality Angosturawhich comprises The umbrellatold AFP in a text message that he does not yet have “an exact number” of victims, due to the complex nature of the area and the confusing situation, but that “There is talk of 25 dead and 15 injured.”

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Earlier, The regional government spoke of an “official number” of two deaths and the same number of injuries.

“In a multidisciplinary team (…) Bolivarian National Armed Forces, civil protection firefighters and several citizen security organizations are embarking to travel to the area by air and make a real assessment of the situation on the ground”, said the Secretary of Citizen Security of the BolivarEdgar Colina Reyes.

The injured were taken to the capital’s hospital, City of Bolívarabout four hours (about 200 km) from this mine where around two hundred people worked, according to government estimates.

For the area too A rescue and rescue team is moving from Caracas to support search efforts.

“We are doing damage assessment and rescue analysis and working on conducting a survey,” In turn, the deputy minister of Risk Management and Civil Protection, Carlos Pérez Ampueda, insisted in statements to AFP.

Fight in the city

In The umbrellamany commercial establishments did not open their doors as a sign of mourning.

“My brother, my brother, my brother,” a relative screamed when he saw the corpse of one of the miners killed in the collapse.

Last December, at least twelve people died after a mine collapsed in the indigenous community of Ikabaru of this same state, where days before a “partial collapse” had occurred without leaving any deaths.

The Bolívar mining arc region, which covers part of the Amazon, has an area of ​​112 thousand km2 with large gold reservesdiamonds, iron, bauxite, quartz and coltan.

The region is explored by the government, but also by illegal and criminal groups. Environmentalists denounce a “ecocide” in the zone.

Last year, the Venezuelan Armed Forces expelled around 14,000 illegal miners from Yapacana National Parklocated in the neighboring state of Amazonas.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.