The death of the five miners trapped after the explosion of the coal mine in Landázuri, Santander is confirmed

After the authorities of the department of Santander announced on the morning of Thursday, November 9, that they rescued the lifeless bodies of three of the five miners who were trapped in an artisanal coal mine in the town of Weapons Plan, in the municipality of Landazuriafter an explosion on Wednesday, November 8, the Office for Disaster Risk Management department confirmed that the rest of the workers also died.

The news was announced by the Director of Risk Management at Santander, Fabián Vargasto Blu Radio, on the morning of this Friday, November 10.

“Unfortunately these people died. We continue searching for the bodies of the other two victims who remain to be extracted from the sinkhole.. It is reported that these five people are natives of the municipality of Bolívar,” Vargas informed the Bogotá radio station.

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The first three victims whose bodies were rescued on the morning of Thursday, November 9, were identified by authorities as Luis Alfredo Gil Herreño, Michael Andrés López Vargas and César Herreño Ardila.

The bodies of Luis Alfredo Gil Herreño and Michael Andrés López Vargas, who had 22 and 29 years oldrespectively, were the first to be recovered by search and rescue teams on the morning of Thursday, November 9.

“So far the report we have is the recovery of two lifeless people. Follow the scanning process and suddenly find the other three people which is the report we had that they were trapped in the explosion,” the commander of the Santander Police, Colonel Gustavo Rodríguez, told Caracol Radio at the time.

Hours later, the newspaper Time knew that the body of César Herreño Ardila, another of the miners who were trapped in the coal mine, had also been recovered by the authorities. Like his companions, the man was found dead.

Regarding the five fatalities left by the explosion in the artisanal mine, the director of Risk Management of Santander announced to Blu Radio that for now it is known that all of them had 20 and 33 years oldand who lived in the San Martin village Of the municipality of Bolivar.

In addition to the five fatalities, it was also known that three other men were injuredafter trying to help the five miners who were trapped.

“One of them received care in the same township by the Miralindo nursing assistant who went to the scene, the other was transferred on a motorcycle while the ambulance from the Landázuri hospital went down to meet him. Once at the hospital they received medical attention, were stabilized and were referred to a more complex center due to the respiratory distress they had“, a leader of the Plan de Armas district told Advertising meter.

The three men who were identified as Álvaro Aguilar Murcia, Vladímir Mora Cruz and Esaú Niño Roperofor now they are receiving medical attention at the Vélez Regional Hospital, where they were admitted with burns and bumps product of the explosion.

Below is the video of the moment in which the first two lifeless bodies were rescued from the Landázuri mine, Santander:

As for the reasons behind the explosion, the first investigations by the Santander authorities for now indicate that it was a accumulation and mixing of gases in the minewhich ended in the fatal tragedy.

“What the specialized group tells us is that a concentration of gases could have occurred, and unfortunately it was what generated the possible explosion inside the sinkhole. (…) So far, the report we have is that there are five people who were inside the mine,” indicated the commander of the Police of Santander, Colonel Gustavo Rodríguezto Caracol Radio.

For now, the authorities will continue with the search and rescue of the bodies of the other two fatal victims who are still trapped in the mine. The identity of the men is still unknown.