BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The bodies of four out of five miners trapped in a collapsed section of one of Chile’s biggest copper mines for three days have been found and identified, an official said Sunday.
Rescue workers at the El Teniente mine, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the capital Santiago, are still looking for the fifth miner, identified as Moises Pavez, mine director Andres Music said.
The trapped miners were located thanks to GPS devices, but rescue workers had to drill through dozens of meters (feet) of rock to reach them.
A section of the mine collapsed following a 4.2 magnitude quake on Thursday, killing one worker and injuring nine others.
Authorities are investigating whether it was a naturally occurring earthquake or whether mining activity at El Teniente caused the tremor. Chilean prosecutors also launched a criminal investigation to determine whether any safety standards were violated.
El Teniente, located in the Andes mountains in central Chile, is the world’s largest underground copper mine and is owned by Chilean state company Codelco.
Shortly after Thursday’s collapse, Codelco halted operations at the affected section of the copper mine and evacuated 3,000 people from the wider site to safe areas.
The company canceled a presentation of its first-half financial results, set for Friday morning, due to the rescue efforts.
Chile, the world’s largest copper producer, also lies in the seismically active “Ring of Fire” that surrounds the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
