All five workers trapped underground at Chile’s El Teniente copper mine have been found dead, regional prosecutors confirmed on 4 August, bringing the death toll to six.
The bodies were discovered after rescue teams cleared more than 24 metres of collapsed tunnels caused by a strong tremor last Thursday evening. Prosecutor Aquiles Cubillo of the O’Higgins region announced the discovery of the fifth body on Sunday afternoon.
One person died at the time of the accident on Thursday evening, 70 hours before the final trapped worker was found.
The collapse initially trapped six workers, with one dying immediately during the incident. Rescue teams found the first trapped miner on Saturday, followed by three more on Sunday. Codelco, Chile’s state-run copper producer, has not yet commented on the final recovery.
This tragic accident highlights ongoing concerns about safety in one of the world’s largest underground mines.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the tremor and the collapse.
President Gabriel Boric expressed his condolences and called for urgent answers.
“We will not allow this to be just another tragedy in the mining sector,” he said.
Throughout the weekend, dozens of people placed candles, Chilean flags and photos of the trapped workers at a makeshift memorial outside the entrance to El Teniente.
Codelco is the world's biggest copper miner and Chile the largest global producer that supplies about a quarter of the world's red metal used in industries from construction to electronics.
El Teniente, which is more than a century old and boasts the world's largest underground copper deposit, spans more than 4,500 kilometres (2,800 miles) of tunnels and underground galleries - nearly the distance between Chile and New York - in the Andes Mountains, about 75 kilometres (47 miles) southeast of Chile's capital Santiago.
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