Rescuers have discovered the bodies of three more missing miners in Chile, where part of a large copper mine collapsed after an earthquake last week.
The National Copper Corporation of Chile, known as Codelco, identified one of the dead as Gonzalo Núñez Caroca in a statement early Sunday. It said the identities of the other two miners would be confirmed later.
Rescuers were continuing to search for two more missing workers whom they believed were still trapped in El Teniente mine, a massive complex in the Andes Mountains, the company said in a statement.
“We share the anguish this situation causes their families and the entire community,” Codelco said.
A fourth man, identified by authorities as Paulo Marín Tapia, was found dead on Thursday. Codelco said Mr. Tapia had been working on the Andesita project, an effort to expand the El Teniente mine.
Since Thursday, rescuers have been frantically trying to locate the miners, who were trapped by 65 feet of debris when part of the mine collapsed. Codelco said the accident was caused by a “seismic event.” A magnitude 5 earthquake was detected by the U.S. Geological Survey on Thursday near Machalí, where the mine is located.
At a news conference on Friday morning, the general manager of the mine said 100 rescue workers were involved in the operation, some of whom had also worked to help free 33 miners who were trapped for weeks in a mine in the Atacama Desert in 2010.
Rescue efforts since the collapse had been hampered by repeated aftershocks, Codelco officials said. The mine shut down immediately after the collapse, which injured nine other workers.
Ali Watkins covers international news for The Times and is based in Belfast.
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