Gold mine collapse in southwestern Colombia kills 14, AP and Reuters report

As of 6:39 a.m. ET, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026

The collapse of an illegal gold mine in southwestern Colombia on Monday killed 14 people and injured seven others, AP and Reuters reported, citing local authorities.

The collapse happened in the rural Chambero sector of the municipality of Santa Bárbara de Iscuandé, in the department of Nariño, Reuters reported. The area is surrounded by dense rainforest and can be reached only by boat or small aircraft, AP reported.

Search and rescue operations have concluded, Nariño Gov. Luis Alfonso Escobar said, Reuters reported. Nariño's government said in a statement that search efforts had ended Monday night, AP reported.

Earlier Monday, when at least six deaths had been reported, Jorge Tovar Castillo, a disaster response official in Nariño, said an additional 12 to 15 miners had been reported missing following the accident, AP reported at the time. He said municipal authorities were handling the response but that communication had been difficult, according to that AP report.

Álex González, Nariño's secretary of peace and human rights, told Noticias Caracol that 14 people had died and seven were injured, four of them seriously. He said search efforts had concluded with no further people reported missing, Noticias Caracol reported.

In a message on X, Escobar said the mine was an "informal" mine, AP reported. "At this moment our priority is to save lives, accompany families and guarantee an opportune response to this painful tragedy," Escobar wrote, according to AP.

Escobar called on the national government, the National Mining Agency and the Ministry of Mines and Energy to speed up the formalization of illegal and small-scale miners to improve working conditions and safety standards, Reuters reported.

In August, 13 people died in a similar mining accident in Policarpa, also in Nariño, AP and Reuters reported.