At least a hundred rescuers are hard at work in Chile, Friday 1is August, in an attempt to save five minors trapped by a collapse which left a dead in the copper mine of El Teniente, of the Public Codelco Public Group.
“We are going to take a temporary measure to suspend the exploitation (…) d’E the lieutenant », The world’s largest underground mine, Chilean Minister Aurora Williams said to journalists. The blocked minors worked on the extension of this site some 1,200 meters deep.
“We will do everything that is humanly possible to save the five workers trapped. All our experience, all our knowledge, all our energy, all our strength are put at the service of this cause and this objective ”said Maximo Pacheco, President of Codelco, at a press conference on Friday afternoon.
“So far, we have not been able to contact them. The galleries are closed, they are collapsed ”said the director general of the mine, Andres Music.
An accident with still uncertain causes
The operation has 4,500 kilometers of galleries. The rescuers know the exact place in which workers are trapped in El Teniente, because they have location devices, according to Mr. Music. The next forty-eight hours will be crucial for research operations, in which certain rescuers participated who had managed to save thirty-three people, blocked for sixty-nine days more than 600 meters deep, in a mine of the Atacama desert in 2010.
According to Mr. Pacheco, the rescue work consists in removing the equipment accumulated in the gallery where workers are trapped. “We are doing this work with autonomous and intelligent, remote -controlled equipment, and a very specialized rescue team, because it is an extraordinarily delicate work”he explained.
The accident occurred Thursday afternoon following a “Seismic event” whose origin – natural or caused by boreholes – is still under study. The shock, with a magnitude of 4.2 according to the statements, caused the death of a worker and injured nine others. Most have already been released.
“This is one of the most serious, if not serious events, has known for the El Teniente site for decades”said the director.
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“What we want here is that they conduct an in -depth investigation. (…) We have reported many irregularities ”assured the agency France-Presse (AFP) José Maldonado, union leader of El Teniente. “The mountain is already saturated and begins to collapse”which would have caused a subsidence and not an earthquake, he accused.
“No psychological support, nothing”
Michael Miranda, a brother of one of the blocked minors, told AFP that families had not been informed about how the accident had occurred. “They didn’t explain anything to us. No one has approached to talk about it, to tell us if my brother is fine or not, whether it is accompanied or not ”he deplored in front of the codelco offices in the city of Rancagua, 100 kilometers south of Santiago.
The wife of this minor is pregnant, “And no one in the company has contacted it. No psychological support, nothing “he added.
The Mine of the Public Group Codelco produces 356,000 tonnes per year, or 6.7 % of copper production in Chile. The country is the world’s largest producer, with 5.3 million tonnes in 2024. Its mining industry is one of the safest in the world. In 2024, the mortality rate was 0.02 %, according to the national service of geology and mines.