Relatives of a missing miner arrive to the offices of Codelco, operators of El Teniente copper mine, where a cave-in killed one worker and trapped five others underground, halting operations in Rancagua, Chile, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
Republished August 02, 2025 - 5:29 PM
Original Publication Date August 02, 2025 - 3:21 PM
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Rescue teams found a body inside a section of a Chilean copper mine that collapsed two days earlier during a moderate earthquake, the mine's director said Saturday.
Rescuers have been trying to reach five miners who were trapped Thursday evening in the El Teniente mine in central Chile as rocks collapsed around them during a 4.2 magnitude quake. The copper mine is one of Chile's largest.
A spokesman for the rescue team that is trying to drill through 90 meters (295 feet) of rock to reach the miners said the body found on Saturday is one of the five miners who were trapped in the mine. El Teniente Director Andres Music said authorities were still trying to identify the body.
The body of another miner — not one of the five still trapped — identified as Paulo Marin Tapia was found Friday, shortly after the mine’s partial collapse.
Nine other mine workers suffered injuries, said Chile’s National Copper Corp., known as Codelco, describing the incident as a result of “a seismic event.”
News from © The Associated Press, 2025