At least 27 people died in Peru and two others were rescued after a fire on Saturday at a gold mine in the southern province of Condesuyos, the country's Public Ministry reported.
According to the first investigations,
the tragedy took place after a short circuit occurred 100 meters from the entrance
to the Yanaquihua mine, known as
Esperanza
I.
"There would have been a short circuit that caused a fire inside the tunnel, which would have put the lives of the workers at risk," reported the regional government of Arequipa.
Local media indicated that
27 trapped workers had died of suffocation
.
On Saturday night, the Ministry of the Interior confirmed the accident on its Twitter account.
"Police personnel are in the Yanaquihua district to support the rescue efforts of the bodies of miners who died inside a tunnel in the province of Condesuyos," the tweet said.
Images disseminated on social networks showed a large column of black smoke coming from the mine, and local media indicated that at the time of the short circuit
there were personnel working at a depth of about 80 meters
.
[At least seven dead in Texas after being run over at a bus stop near an immigrant shelter]
It was reported that
the fire spread very quickly
through the wooden structures that support the deposit, dedicated to the extraction of gold, which prevented the miners from escaping.
Local Peruvian media indicated that 27 workers were trapped in the mine after a fire.Getty Images
James Casquino, mayor of Yanaquihua, said that the mine owner went to the police station in that district to ask for help in rescuing the people who were trapped.
The authorities indicated that rescuers had mobilized towards the area.
[Several migrants die in a car accident in New Mexico near the border]
Relatives of the victims gathered in front of the Yanaquihua police station to gather information about the fate of their loved ones and
to demand that the authorities expedite the efforts to rescue the bodies
.
Nine dead in a shooting at a Texas shopping center in which the attacker was killed
May 7, 202303:01
Prosecutor Giovanni Matos told local media that work in the mine could take time because it was not known if the rescue teams could enter the mine to remove the bodies.
[Dust storm in Illinois causes multiple deaths and dozens hospitalized after massive crash]
The mine belongs to Yanaquihua SAC
, a company that brings together small mining producers dedicated to the exploitation of gold and other metals, the company indicates on its website.
With information from EFE,
RPP
and
La República
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/2C5HI6YHNFHDLJSBNWHOIAS2AE.jpeg)
