At least 13 workers killed in landslide at Colombian gold mine

At least 13 workers were killed and seven injured in a landslide at an unlicensed gold mine in southern Colombia, according to local officials. Witnesses reported hearing an explosion at the open‑pit artisanal site on Wednesday afternoon, shortly before the workers were buried. Rescue crews and residents used excavators to recover the bodies. Such fatal incidents are not rare in Colombia, particularly at informal mines where individuals extract gold and other precious metals without regulatory supervision. Witnesses said that four of the deceased belonged to the same indigenous family. Local residents estimate that roughly fifty people, most of them members of the Quillacinga community, regularly work the mine near Policarpa in Nariño department. Nationwide, between 200,000 and 400,000 individuals are thought to participate in artisanal mining, with many families depending on the proceeds from the sale of recovered metals and stones to sustain their livelihoods.