Greater than 100 folks had been concerned within the seek for employees on the El Teniente copper mine, the world’s largest underground mine.
All 5 employees trapped at a copper mine in Chile have been discovered useless, in response to a regional prosecutor, after rescue groups cleared greater than 24 metres (78 toes) of underground passages that collapsed in a robust earthquake final week.
Prosecutor Aquiles Cubillo of the O’Higgins area stated on Sunday that the physique of the fifth trapped employee had been discovered on the El Teniente copper mine.
Greater than 100 folks had been concerned within the seek for employees on the El Teniente copper mine, the world’s largest underground mine, in Rancagua, about 100km (62 miles) south of Santiago.
“We deeply remorse this consequence,” Cubillos stated.
The newest dying brings the full toll from the accident to 6, together with one one who died on the time of the incident on Thursday night.
Chile’s state-owned mining firm Codelco found the primary trapped employee on Saturday and one other three on Sunday. It has not but commented on the ultimate employee.
The miners had been working at a depth of greater than 900 metres when the collapse occurred, killing one colleague and halting operations on the web site. Their actual location had been pinpointed with specialised tools.
Minister for Mining Aurora Williams introduced the non permanent cessation of exercise on the mine on Saturday.
The mine started working within the early 1900s and boasts greater than 4,500km (some 2,800 miles) of underground tunnels.
Final yr, El Teniente produced 356,000 tonnes of copper – practically 7 % of the full for Chile.
The cave-in occurred after a “seismic occasion” on Thursday afternoon, of which the origin – pure or attributable to drilling – was not but recognized, the authorities stated on Saturday. The tremor registered a magnitude of 4.2.
“It is among the largest occasions, if not the largest, that the El Teniente deposit has skilled in many years,” Andres Music, the mine’s common supervisor, stated in a press release.
The search group included a number of of the rescuers who participated in efficiently surfacing 33 miners trapped in a mine for greater than two months within the Atacama Desert in 2010, attracting a whirlwind of world media consideration.
Chile is the world’s largest copper producer, chargeable for practically 1 / 4 of world provide, with about 5.3 million tonnes in 2024.
Its mining trade is among the most secure on the planet, with a dying charge of 0.02 % final yr, in response to the Nationwide Geology and Mining Service of Chile.
It additionally lies within the seismically energetic “Ring of Hearth” that surrounds the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
Aerial view of El Teniente copper mine, the place a collapse killed 5 trapped employees underground (Esteban Felix/AP)
Supply hyperlink
