Two Bodies Recovered After Nicaragua Mine Collapse: Official

Managua, Dec 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Dec, 2020 ) :Rescue workers on Saturday said they had recovered the bodies of two men trapped in the collapse in southern Nicaragua of an unlicensed gold mine.

The accident occurred in the La Esperanza region, more than 200 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of the capital Managua.

The two victims, identified as Israel Sequeira and Santos Herrera, were from the Rio San Juan department, local government official Johnny Gutierrez told official website 19 Digital.

He said rescue work, involving police, firefighters and army troops, would wind up no later than Sunday. Gutierrez did not speculate on the fate of other miners caught in the collapse.

Local media said anywhere from seven to 18 miners were trapped when the rain-soaked hillside collapsed.

Amaru Ruiz, director of the nonprofit Fundacion del Rio, told AFP that the hillside was honeycombed by mining tunnels dug over the years on private property.

An estimated 3,000 people work in Nicaragua's unlicensed mines.

Months of rain -- including the devastating passage last month of hurricanes Eta and Iota -- had saturated and weakened the clayey land, Ruiz added.

Landslides last month in northern Nicaragua claimed at least seven lives.