Caption: People look at an excavator working at the site where an illegal gold mine collapsed with seven miners trapped in Santander de Quilichao, department of Cauca, Colombia

 

COLOMBIA – Rescuers worked Friday to reach seven miners trapped for nearly a full day in an illegal gold shaft that collapsed in southwest Colombia, officials said.

The seven had been underground since Thursday night after a landslide struck the conflict-ridden municipality of Santander de Quilichao in the Cauca department.

An excavator was digging Friday through loose sand, mud and tree branches covering the entrance to the shaft, as dozens of family members and other locals waited for news on the miners’ fate.

“Please come to rescue us!” exclaimed Audalida Galarza, aunt of one of the trapped miners, as the search continued.

Diana Collazos, head of the local disaster response office, said the miners were trapped about 22 meters (72 feet) underground.

Cauca is at the heart of operations by dissident fighters who turned their backs on a peace agreement signed between the government and the now-disarmed FARC guerrilla army.

Gold is extracted illegally in the region under orders from the guerrillas, who finance their activities with sales of the precious metal and cocaine trafficking. Accidents are common.

The office of the inspector general, an oversight body, said in December that illegal mining occurs in the vast majority of the departments that make up conflict-ridden Colombia, where the state has no control over vast swaths of territory.

A UN report said about 94,000 hectares of land in Colombia are being illegally mined in a process that pollutes natural water sources with mercury. (AFP)