Local authorities in Colombia say a collapse at an illegally operated gold mine in the country's southwest has killed 14 people and injured seven. The accident occurred in the rural Chambero area of the Santa Barbara de Iscuande municipality in Nariño department.
Nariño Governor Luis Alfonso Escobar said search-and-rescue operations have concluded. Disaster response official Jorge Tovar Castillo said a further 12 to 15 miners were reported missing after the accident.
Tovar Castillo said municipal authorities were handling the response but that communications were difficult. Santa Barbara de Iscuande sits amid dense tropical rainforest and can only be reached by boat or small aircraft.
In a message on the social media platform X, Governor Escobar said the gold mine was an "informal" operation. "Right now our priority is to save lives, to stand with the families and to ensure a timely response to this painful tragedy," he wrote.
Informal, unregulated mining is common in rural parts of Colombia, where operations often lack adequate safety infrastructure, leading to frequent deadly accidents.
In August, 13 people died in a similar mining accident in the town of Policarpa, also in Nariño department.
