All five missing miners have been confirmed dead after a collapse at Chile's El Teniente copper mine, authorities said on Sunday. The body of Moisés Pavez, the last miner unaccounted for, was found by rescue teams who drilled through dozens of metres of rock to reach the trapped workers.
The five miners – Gonzalo Núñez, Jean Miranda, Alex Araya, Carlos Arancibia, and Pavez – were trapped deep inside the mine on Thursday after a section collapsed following a 4.2 magnitude earthquake. The quake instantly killed miner Paulo Marín and injured nine other workers.
Lead prosecutor Aquiles Cubillos of Chile's O'Higgins region confirmed that Pavez's body was located at 3.30pm local time. The trapped miners had been located using GPS devices, but rescue teams were unable to communicate with them.
Authorities are investigating whether the tremor was naturally occurring or caused by mining activity at El Teniente. Chilean prosecutors have also launched a criminal investigation to determine if any safety standards were violated.
El Teniente, located in the Andes mountains in central Chile, is the world's largest underground copper mine and is owned by state company Codelco. Following the collapse, Codelco halted operations in the affected section and evacuated 3,000 people from the broader site.
The incident recalls the 2010 rescue of 33 miners trapped in a Chilean copper mine for two months, which drew global attention and was later depicted in a Hollywood film.
