All five missing miners found dead in Chile’s El Teniente mine collapse

All five workers who were missing after a collapse in the world’s largest underground copper mine have been found dead, officials confirmed on August 3.

Aquiles Cubillos, the lead prosecutor in Chile’s O’Higgins region, announced that the body of Moisés Pavez, the last trapped miner, was recovered at 3:30 p.m. local time by rescue teams. The operation required drilling through dozens of meters of rock to reach the stranded workers, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media. 

“We deeply regret this outcome,” Cubillos said.

The five miners — Gonzalo Núñez, Jean Miranda, Alex Araya, Carlos Arancibia, and Moisés Pavez — became trapped deep inside the El Teniente mine on July 31 after a section of the shaft collapsed following a 4.2 magnitude earthquake. The tremor also instantly killed miner Paulo Marín and injured nine others.

Rescue teams located the trapped miners using GPS devices but were unable to establish communication with them.

Authorities have launched investigations to determine whether the earthquake was a natural event or triggered by mining activities at El Teniente. Chilean prosecutors have also opened a criminal inquiry to assess if safety protocols were breached.

El Teniente, situated in the Andes mountains in central Chile, is owned by state company Codelco. Following the collapse, Codelco suspended operations in the affected area and evacuated 3,000 workers from the broader site to safety.

Due to the rescue efforts, the company canceled its scheduled presentation of first-half financial results.

Chile, the world’s largest copper producer, is located in the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire. The country previously made international headlines in 2010 when 33 miners were rescued after being trapped underground for two months in a northern copper mine—a dramatic operation later depicted in a Hollywood film.

By Sabina Mammadli