2024-02-21 16:22:05
A collapse in the illegal gold mine known as “Bulla Loca”, located in the municipality of Angostura, Bolívar state, generated a tragedy during the night of Tuesday and the early hours of this Wednesday in Venezuela. The collapse in the shaft would have caused the death of at least 30 miners, while another 100 would be buried.
The mayor of that town, Yorgi Arciniega, told CNN that the collapse took place on Tuesday at 3:00 pm local time in Venezuela, but due to the difficult access to the area, relief agencies took a while to arrive at the scene to carry out rescue efforts. Authorities are also awaiting the arrival of a helicopter.
Photojournalist Fritz Sánchez detailed in
The illegal mine, apparently, was under the control of a criminal gang whose leaders are aliases El Ciego and Nelson El Caracas.
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In December, at least twelve people died following the collapse of a mine in the indigenous community of Ikabarú in this same state, where a “partial collapse” had occurred days before without leaving any deaths.
The state of Bolívar has the extensive Orinoco belt, an area of 112,000 square kilometers with large reserves of gold, diamonds, iron, bauxite, quartz and coltan, which covers a portion of the Amazon.
The belt is exploited by the government, but also by illegal and criminal groups. Environmentalists denounce an “ecocide” in the area.
In the last year, the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (Fanb) evicted some 14,000 illegal miners from the Yapacana National Park, located in the Amazon (south).
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