Rancagua, Chile (EFE).- Chilean authorities confirmed on Sunday the recovery of the body of the last missing miner following Thursday’s collapse at the El Teniente mine, bringing the total death toll to six in the country’s deadliest mining accident in over three decades.
“We have managed to recover the bodies in a short period, despite the risk and complexity of the operation. This has helped bring peace and serenity to the families,” said O’Higgins regional prosecutor Aquiles Cubillos at a press briefing.
The collapse occurred after a 4.2-magnitude earthquake struck the Andesita sector, one of the deepest areas of El Teniente, the world’s largest underground copper mine.
Authorities are still investigating whether the quake was natural or triggered by drilling activity carried out by Chile’s state-owned copper giant, Codelco.
Investigation ongoing at Codelco state
Cubillos confirmed that all underground operations at El Teniente remain suspended, although surface operations continue.
The exact area of the collapse will remain sealed off for the duration of the investigation.
“This will be a fully objective investigation, and we welcome all who wish to contribute to it,” he stated. “There is no fixed hypothesis at this time; we’re keeping all options open.”
El Teniente spans more than 4,500 kilometers (2,796 miles) of tunnels, roughly the distance between Madrid and Moscow, and produced 356,000 metric tons of fine copper in 2024 alone.
The first fatality was reported just hours after Thursday’s incident, a contractor killed by falling debris in the Andesita action.
Codelco later confirmed that five additional miners had been trapped in the nearby Teniente 7 level, prompting a large-scale rescue operation.
Rescue operation and mining tragedy
Rescue teams worked tirelessly over the weekend, clearing approximately 3,270 tons of debris to reach the trapped workers, none of whom could be contacted during the operation.
Many of the rescuers had also taken part in the globally followed 2010 rescue of 33 miners trapped for over two months in northern Chile’s San José mine.
This incident marks the deadliest at El Teniente since 1990, when a rock explosion claimed the lives of six miners.
Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, has not yet commented on the potential cause of the collapse but pledged full cooperation with the ongoing investigation. EFE
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