CARACAS_ An illegal gold mine in a remote location in southern Venezuela It collapsed, causing the death of about 25 people, according to a provisional report from local authorities released on Wednesday.
The incident occurred in the “Bulla loca” mine, seven hours by river from La Paragua (Bolívar state, south). Dozens of people were working in the open pit quarry when suddenly an avalanche of earth fell, covering 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” toll of victims, without specifying an official figure.
“Right now we don’t have an exact number,” said Yorgi Arciniega, mayor of the Angostura municipality, which includes La Paragua. “There is talk of 25 dead and 15 injured.”
Relatives were waiting for news in Puerto Guacara, in La Paragua, about 750 km southeast of Caracas and from where the boats set sail for the “Bulla loca” mine.
“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.
Relatives of one of the dead miners cried inconsolably as they carried 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.
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.
Similar events
Last December, at least 12 people died after the collapse of a mine in the indigenous community of Ikabarú in this same state, where a “partial collapse” had occurred days before without leaving any deaths.
The mining arc region in Bolívar, which 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 regime, but also occupied by illegal groups and criminal gangs.
“This was to come,” commented Robinson Basanta, a resident of the place, referring to the unsafe conditions under which the miners work, most of them in situations of 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 of the regime evicted some 14,000 illegal miners from the Yapacana National Park, located in the neighboring state of Amazonas.
Source: AFP
