LA PARAGUA, Venezuela (news agencies) — Families and friends began burying loved ones on Thursday who were among at least 16 people killed in the collapse of an illegally operated gold mine in a remote area of central Venezuela.
The tributes come as anger mounts at the government’s slow response helping the injured and recovering bodies from Tuesday’s accident — one of the worst in a poorly regulated mining industry that has soared as the OPEC nation’s oil production dwindled.
As mourners filled the cemetery in La Paragua, the community closest to the remote mine, dozens of residents gathered outside a restaurant where they believed the state’s governor was dining. The group demanded to speak with Ángel Marcano, an ally of President Nicolás Maduro, and at one point, banged on a sport utility vehicle parked outside. Intelligence service agents with long guns and police responded to the scene.
Officials overnight raised the death toll to 16, and said there were also 16 injured in the collapse of the remote Bulla Loca mine, which had been in operation for only a few months.
But the casualty numbers are expected to rise as survivors accused officials of undercounting the full extent of the tragedy.
William Nadales was working with at least 50 other miners when a clay-colored torrent of mud collapsed, burying several of his colleagues, including his 22-year old nephew, Gerson Leal.
“My nephew used to work in a plantain field and went to the mine in hopes of buying a motorcycle,” Nadales said, recounting how he had to transport his nephew’s body overnight six hours by boat to La Paragua for his burial. “The pit killed him. I had to pull him out.”
Marcano told reporters that all 16 bodies have been turned over to relatives, dismissing fears of a much higher death toll as “rumors.” The governor said three of the 16 injured remained hospitalized.
Several relatives, neighbors and friends, wailed as the casket of 24-year-old miner Santiago Mora was lowered into the ground. “We are going to miss you so much,” they screamed after placing flowers on the duck-taped wooden casket.
Venezuela’s government in 2016 established a huge mining development zone stretching across the central area of the country, to supplement flagging revenue from its dominant oil industry, which has seen production decline to near its lowest levels in decades as a result of mismanagement, corruption and, more recently, U.S. sanctions.
Since then, mining operations for gold, diamonds, copper and other minerals have proliferated. Many are wildcat mines, operating on the margins of the law. Despite brutal conditions and the presence of criminal gangs, ordinary Venezuelans continue to flock to mining centers in hopes of getting rich quick and escaping crushing poverty in urban centers, from where more than 8 million Venezuelans emigrated in recent years.
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