Venezuela mine collapse kills at least 14 after torrential rains

Venezuela (File photo)

At least 14 people died in a mine collapse in El Callao, Venezuela after torrential rains hit the southeast region, authorities said on Monday.

A command post was set up to “coordinate operations to recover the 14 deceased,” led by Brigadier General Gregory González Acevedo, head of the Operational Zones for Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (ZOEDAN) in Bolívar state.

The deaths occurred in three different shafts of the “Cuatro Esquinas de Caratal” mine, located in town of El Callao, about 850 kilometers (528 miles) southeast of Caracas, the agency reported in a statement on its Instagram account.

Search and rescue operations began with “the pumping out of all the shafts in the area to lower the water level, and then evaluating rescue efforts” for the people trapped inside the gold mine, the statement added, without providing further details.

The death toll is based on other miners' testimony, fire fighters in El Callao said on social media. Flooding caused the collapse of the vertical mines, known as ravines.

El Callao is a town where life depends on gold mining. Most of its 30,000 inhabitants participate directly or indirectly in mining.

Venezuela is full of copper, diamond and other precious metal mining, where unsafe working conditions are common in the poorly regulated industry.