BOGOTÁ: A landslide at an illegal gold mine in south-western Colombia killed 14 people and injured seven, a regional official said on Monday.
Armed groups in Nariño, a hotspot for illegal mining on the border with Ecuador, control the clandestine gold trade, as well as drug trafficking and extortion.
Videos shared on social media showed people and a backhoe removing bodies from the mine and transferring them to a canoe on a nearby river.
Nariño’s Peace and Security Secretary Alex Gonzalez gave the revised death toll to the Caracol network, adding that the search for survivors had ended.
Rescue teams struggled to reach the site because of the difficult terrain and the presence of criminal groups, the governor’s office said.
“Communities have no other economic alternatives than these extremely risky activities. Traditional small-scale mining has practically disappeared,” a source from the office told AFP.
Mine accidents are frequent in Colombia, particularly at unregulated sites.
Residents of the municipality where the mine collapsed on Monday have reported targeted killings by armed groups of people suspected of collaborating with security forces or rival organisations, or of stealing gold.