A landslide at an illegal gold mine in southwestern Colombia killed 14 people and injured seven, a regional official said Monday.
Armed groups in Narino, an illegal mining hotspot on the border with Ecuador, control the clandestine gold trade as well as trafficking drugs and engaging in extortion.
Videos shared on social media show people and a backhoe evacuating bodies from the mine to a canoe on a nearby river.
Narino’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 due to 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 in Colombia are frequent, particularly at unregulated sites.
Locals in the municipality where the mine collapsed on Monday have reported selective killings carried out by armed groups over suspicions of collaboration with security forces and rival organizations, or of stealing gold.