An emergency has been declared after the collapse at an artisanal gold mine in El Chambero. Figures are preliminary and have not been officially confirmed.
Local media in Colombia report that between nine and 20 people have died, and that about 30 people were thought to be at the site, after an artisanal gold mine collapsed in the village of El Chambero, in the south-west of the country. An emergency has been declared. Authorities have warned that the toll could rise. The Nariño Governor’s Office, the Navy and the National Army are responding, and an official statement is expected.
What is known
Colombian broadcaster Blu Radio reports that Evelio Aguiño, Nariño’s Secretary of Mines, confirmed nine deaths. He warned that the figure could increase because about 30 people are believed to have been at the mine. That is not the same as 30 people being confirmed trapped, and the number still missing has not been confirmed. The higher estimate of 20 dead comes from local reports and has not been officially verified.
Blu Radio also reports that the nine people believed to have died may have belonged to the same family. Authorities have not released the victims’ names, ages or family relationships, so this remains preliminary.
The response
Emergency operations began at about 8am Colombian time on Monday 19 October, according to the local report. Local farmers and residents, firefighters, Civil Defence staff and other volunteers have helped search for victims and establish whether more people remain beneath the earth. No completed rescue or final casualty count had been reported.
The Nariño Governor’s Office, working with the Navy and the National Army, has been providing medical assistance. Local authorities have asked national bodies for urgent help, including aircraft for rescue operations, activation of the hospital network and experts to help reach victims.
Where it happened
The collapse struck the rural settlement of El Chambero, in Santa Barbara de Iscuandé, in the Sanquianga subregion of Nariño, on Colombia’s Pacific coast. It is a remote area where access and transport can complicate rescue work. The latest reporting describes a landslide at the mine, but no definitive technical explanation has been released.
Colombia’s national disaster management system issued a moderate landslide-risk forecast on 30 September for El Charco, another Nariño municipality, concerning intense or prolonged rain. It applied to a different municipality and does not show that authorities predicted the El Chambero collapse or that rain caused it.
An earlier disaster
On 19 and 20 August, an embankment collapsed at an open-pit gold mine in Puerto Rico, Policarpa, also in Nariño. Reports at the time put the death toll at 13, while the Nariño Governor’s Office later issued a final report listing 12 deaths, with seven injured. It was a separate incident, but it raises wider questions about mining safety in the department.
