Colombian emergency workers extracted the bodies of three miners killed in an explosion in the San Fernando coal mine in Amaga, Antioquia. Around 60 people are believed to still be trapped.
The explosion, which occurred around midnight Wednesday, was felt within a mile radius of the site and was so strong it broke the windows of the mine’s office located 150 meters above ground from the mine itself.
At the time of the explosion the miners were changing shift. The managers are calculating how many people remain trapped inside based on their shift log-in cards.
“The hope is that they are sheltering somewhere, although environmental conditions make this possibility unlikely because the rescue workers had to come out because there was not a safe level of air, ” Antioquia emergency services official Gilberto Mazo told El Tiempo.
Rescue efforts have been suspended while clean air is introduced and dangerous gases removed from the mine.
Around 600 miners work in the San Fernando mine, which saw a similar incident a year and a half ago, in which five people were trapped, one of whom died.