20 killed in Colombia mine blast

Bogota, Jan 27 (IANS/EFE) At least 20 miners were killed and six injured in a gas explosion inside a coal mine in Colombia, an official said.

The blast occurred Wednesday at the La Preciosa mine in the northeastern town of Sardinata, Colombia’s Ingeominas regulatory agency official, Marisa Fernandez, said.

While four bodies were recovered, 15 workers trapped to death inside the mine and one died on way to a hospital, the official said.

Preliminary investigations indicate the blast was caused by a build-up of methane gas, also blamed for an explosion four years ago at the same mine that left nearly 30 dead.

Colombia’s worst mining accident in recent years occurred last June at a coal mine in the northwestern town of Amaga, where 73 workers died after an explosion trapped them in a tunnel.

–IANS/EFE