Nine miners killed in coal-mine gas explosion in Colombia
Nine workers were killed when a methane explosion ripped through a coal mine in the town of Sutatausa, in Colombia's Cundinamarca province. The blast is the worst in the area since a 2023 disaster at a nearby pit.
A methane explosion deep inside a coal mine in the town of Sutatausa, north of Bogota in Colombia's Cundinamarca province, killed nine workers, officials said. Several other miners were rescued alive and taken to nearby hospitals for treatment.
Colombia's National Mining Agency has acknowledged that oversight of small and medium-sized pits remains a chronic weakness. Sutatausa lies at the centre of an area where a 2023 explosion killed 21 miners; mandatory gas-sensor rules promised after that disaster have still not been implemented at many sites.
The government said it was preparing a new safety inspection framework for the country's coal sector, one of Colombia's largest export industries. The labour minister said operators' responsibility would be investigated and that support payments to bereaved families would be accelerated.
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