Bogta, June 21: Rescuers pulled four more bodies Sunday from a coal mine in northwestern Colombia where an explosion killed more than 70 people, officials said.
The blast on Wednesday near Medellin charred many workers inside. So far, 23 bodies have been recovered, including four Sunday, Amaga town Mayor Auxilio del Socorro Zapata said.
Searchers were struggling to locate more bodies as they faced heavy gas concentrations in some areas and damaged track inside the mine.
Sixty percent of Amaga’s 27,000 inhabitants directly or indirectly make a living from the area’s coal mines, according to the mayor.
President Alvaro Uribe expressed his condolences over the disaster, saying he was “very sad… for the people trapped there. It’s a very difficult fate.”
Colombia’s Minister of Mines Hernan Martinez said there appeared to have been no gas detectors in the mine.
–Agencies