Rescuers locate 20 miners trapped in gold mine landslide in Nicaragua

BONANZA, Nicaragua – Rescuers on Friday located 20 of at least 24 freelance gold miners trapped underground by a landslide in northern Nicaragua, but were not immediately able to bring them to safety.

Teams of dogs helped locate the 20 miners, and rescue workers were labouring to get them out, said Milagros Solorzano of the ruling Sandinista Party in the community of Bonanza.

Soloranzo told local Channel 8 that the 20 miners were located in a kind of cave inside the mine and have been able to communicate with rescue workers. They said they didn’t know the whereabouts of the other four.

Relatives of the trapped miners gathered Friday on the margins of the rescue operation. Friends held up Margarita Mendez, who looked like she was going to faint as she awaited news about her son, Salvador Urbina.

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The slide occurred Thursday at the El Comal gold and silver mine operated by Hemco in the town of Bonanza, about 260 miles (420 kilometres) northeast of Managua.

The trapped miners are not employees of Hemco, but rather freelancers allowed to work in Hemco’s concession if they sell any gold they find to the firm, mining company spokesman Gregorio Downs told The Associated Press.

Downs said the company had warned miners about the danger of working in the El Comal area, especially after two miners died in a rain-caused landslide there last month.

A government website, El 19 Digital, reported that one of the 26 miners originally trapped had escaped Thursday night and another was rescued Friday morning.

Authorities didn’t receive word until late Thursday after the mine lost contact with the workers, who are believed to be about 165 feet (50 metres) below the surface.

Downs told the government’s news website that 26 miners were trapped, and the company initially had contact with them. But he said apparently there were more slides inside after the initial one.

According to the website of Nicaragua-based Hemco, the company has mined in the north Atlantic municipality since 1995 and employs 532 workers, who process 700 tons of material a day. The company, majority owned by Colombia’s Mineros S.A., says it produces more than 2,500 pounds (1,150 kilograms, 37,000 troy ounces) of gold a year and is Nicaragua’s 12th largest exporter.

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Associated Press writer Luis Manuel Galeano reported from Managua and Esteban Felix reported from Bonanza.