At least five miners have been killed and many others are missing following an explosion at a coal mine in north-east Colombia, an official says.
Rescue teams raced to the La Preciosa mine in Sardinata, Norte de Santander department following the blast, which was blamed on a build-up of gases.
Early reports said about 30 miners had been underground, but the mayor later said at least 13 were trapped.
In February 2007 a gas explosion at the same mine killed more than 30 workers.
After that blast, authorities said they would step up their supervision of Colombia’s mines.
Last November, nine workers died at two mines in the Cundinamarca region of Colombia.
Following the latest incident, Sardinata Mayor Yamile Rangel said five miners had been injured and taken to hospital.
She said four were confirmed dead at the scene and a fifth had died on the way to hospital.
“In the mine there are between 13 and 19 workers trapped,” she said in the latest update.
Emergency teams were unable to enter the mine because of the collapse, officials said.
Red Cross rescue chief Carlos Ivan Marquez said it appeared that methane gas had caused the explosion.
The blast occurred during a change of shift at about 0630 (1130 GMT), RCN radio reported.
Correspondents say conditions for miners in South America have improved radically over recent decades, but there are still many accidents.
Colombia is one of the world’s largest coal exporters and has the second-largest reserves in South America, after Brazil.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.