Rescue teams have located a body within a section of the El Teniente copper mine in Chile. The mine suffered a collapse two days prior, triggered by a moderate earthquake, according to the mine’s director, speaking on Saturday.
Efforts have been underway to reach five miners who became trapped in the El Teniente mine, located in central Chile, on Thursday evening. The miners were trapped when rocks collapsed around them during a 4.2 magnitude earthquake.
The copper mine is one of Chile’s largest.
A spokesperson for the rescue operation, focused on drilling through 295 feet of rock to reach the miners, has stated that the body discovered on Saturday is believed to be one of the five miners trapped in the mine.
El Teniente director Andres Music indicated that authorities are still working to identify the body.
The body of another miner, Paulo Marin Tapia, was recovered on Friday, shortly after the partial mine collapse. He was not one of the five miners who remain trapped.
Nine other mine workers sustained injuries. Chile’s National Copper Corp, known as Codelco, attributed the incident to “a seismic event”.
