A illegal gold mine in a remote place in the south of Venezuela collapsed causing the death of about 25 people. The authorities sent rescue teams to work on the search efforts. The incident occurred Tuesday afternoon at “Bulla loca” mineseven hours by river from La Paragua (Bolívar state, south).
In a video released on social networks, you can see the moment in which dozens of people were working in the quarry in the open air when suddenly a landslide fell on several of the miners, while others managed to jump in terror.
The Vice Minister of Risk Management and Civil Protection, General Carlos Pérez Ampueda, published a video of the incident on X and spoke of a “massive number of victims”without specifying an official figure.
“At this time we do not have an exact number,” Yorgi Arciniega, mayor of the Angostura municipality, which includes La Paragua, told AFP. “There is talk of 25 dead and 15 injured.”
Relatives were waiting for news Puerto Guacara, in La Paragua, about 750 km southeast of Caracas and from where the boats They set sail for the “Bulla loca” mine.
In a new statement offered this Wednesday to AFP, Arciniega pointed out that Some 23 bodies have been recovered.
“So far 15 bodies and four wounded have arrived. At this moment two more boats are arriving, with approximately 8 more bodies,” declared the local official from the port. It is “regrettable what has happened,” he said.
The grief of the victims’ families after the tragedy in Venezuela
Relatives of one of the miners dead in the Venezuela tragedy cried heartbroken while they transported his body in the trunk of a truck inside a wooden box. They took him to a small house with a tin roof where his mother hugged other relatives.
“My little brother, my little brother,” cried a girl near the body covered with a sheet in a room packed for the wake.
Groups of young people on motorcycles accompanied the trucks with the bodies brought from the mine. Several recorded the funeral processions with their cell phones.
“We ask that they support us with helicopters to remove the injured,” he told AFP. a woman who was waiting for news from her brother-in-law, father of three children aged 4, 6 and 7.
Rescue work continues
The wounded They were transferred to the hospital in the state capital, Ciudad Bolívar.about 200 km from this mine where about 200 people worked, according to government estimates.
A rescue and rescue team from Caracas to support the search efforts.
“We are doing damage assessment and rescue analysis and working on carrying out a survey,” said Ampueda. earlier to AFP.
In La Paragua, many commercial establishments did not open their doors.
A new tragedy in Venezuela due to the collapse of a mine
In December past, at least 12 people died after the collapse of a mine in the indigenous community of Ikabaru of this same state, where days before a “partial collapse” had occurred without leaving any deaths.
The mining arc region in Bolívarwhich covers a portion of the Amazon, has an area of 112,000 km2 with large reserves of gold, diamonds, iron, bauxite, quartz and coltan.
It is an area exploited by the government, but also occupied by illegal groups and criminal gangs.
“This was to come,” commented Robinson Basantaa local resident, when referring to the unsafe conditions under which the miners work, most of them in extreme poverty.
“This mine has released a lot of gold (…) People go there out of necessity to make ends meet,” the man added.
Activists denounce “ecocide” in the area and the exploitation of children and women, who work long hours without protection.
In the last year, the Venezuelan Armed Forces evicted some 14,000 illegal miners from the Yapacana National Park, located in the neighboring state of Amazonas.
Source: Ambito
