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BOGOTA, Colombia: Twenty-three workers were rescued Wednesday after spending 43 hours trapped in a collapsed underground gold mine in northern Colombia. The miners were met with applause as they emerged from the La Reliquia mine, located in the Antioquia department.
Colombia’s National Mining Agency reported that the main entrance to the mine had collapsed on Monday due to a “geomechanical failure.” A video released by the ANM shows the first rescued miners walking out under their own power, using a rope to climb the steep entrance to the shaft. Their health status was not immediately disclosed.
The miners’ families had been waiting for hours and celebrated their rescue with tears and applause.
The mine is on land belonging to Canada’s Aris Mining Corp. but is operated by a local mining cooperative. Aris Mining said earlier that it had provided the trapped workers with food, water and ventilation during the rescue efforts. The mine has about 60 employees and accounts for a “small portion” of the company’s total gold production in the area.
Aris runs two mining concessions in Colombia, which last year produced about 6.6 tons of gold. Colombia’s gold production climbed to 67 tons per year in 2024, supported by high prices for the precious metal.
A report published in 2023 by Colombia’s Human Rights Ombudsman said that more than 80 percent of Colombia’s gold is mined by informal operators with no licenses, including artisanal miners but also members of rebel groups.
The precarious conditions at some gold mines in Colombia have led to fatal accidents. On Saturday the bodies of seven miners were found at an illegal mine in Cauca province. Rescue teams took nine days to reach the trapped workers.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday he will join Italy in sending a military warship to protect an international flotilla seeking to deliver aid to Gaza after it was attacked by drones off Greece.
Sanchez told a press conference in New York where he has been attending the UN General Assembly that the citizens of 45 countries were on board to deliver food to the population of Gaza and express solidarity with their suffering.
“The government of Spain insists that international law be respected and that the right of our citizens should be respected to sail through the Mediterranean in safe conditions,” he said.
“Tomorrow we will dispatch a naval vessel from Cartagena with all necessary resources in case it was necessary to assist the flotilla and carry out a rescue operation.”
The Global Sumud Flotilla is using about 50 civilian boats to try to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, with many lawyers and activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
The vessels were attacked by 12 drones in international waters 30 nautical miles (56 km) off the Greek island of Gavdos, said Marikaiti Stasinou, a spokesperson for March to Gaza Greece, which is part of the flotilla.
Thunberg told Reuters on Monday that they had drones flying over them each night.
“This mission is about Gaza, it isn’t about us. And no risks that we could take could even come close to the risks the Palestinians are facing every day,” Thunberg said in a video call from the ship.