QUITO (Reuters) – Two of four men trapped in an Ecuadorean mine cave-in were found dead yesterday in the latest accident to hit the industry in Latin America.
Contrasting with the jubilation at this week’s rescue of 33 miners in Chile, the two Ecuadorean miners’ bodies were brought out to disconsolate relatives and officials at the small gold mine in Portovelo near the Peruvian border.
The miners were trapped some 500 feet (150 metres) underground when a tunnel collapsed early on Friday. Officials blamed the accident on water leaks.
“We have found two bodies. The rescue operation continues and we think the other two have a good chance of being alive,” government mining official Jorge Espinosa told Reuters. “They were working in the part above the collapse.”
About 100 rescuers were at the scene, trying to remove rocks and insert a small probe with a camera inside to determine the two men’s fate.
In Chile the 33 miners survived for two weeks on limited rations until rescuers made contact. Their rescue, after more than two months deep under remote desert, triggered euphoria across the continent.
