Chilean Mine Collapse Traps Five Workers
A part of the Chilean mines structure gave way after an earthquake on Thursday, August 1, 2025. The mine was called El Tiente and was located in the Andes mountains. One miner had died at the scene after the event, while five others were trapped deep in the mines. The earthquake that caused the world’s largest underground copper mine to collapse partially was a 5.0 magnitude earthquake. got trapped in the mines.
Coldeco, the company responsible for the El Tiente mine, immediately halted all activities so rescue workers could set out in search of the trapped miners. More than one hundred rescue workers helped in the operation to rescue the miners. Over the course of three days, the search party drilled dozens of meters of rock and faced many setbacks, like the aftershocks of the earthquake, which made the rescue more difficult to reach the trapped miners. Eventually, they found three bodies, one identified as Gonzalo Núñez Caroca. The other two bodies were said to be confirmed later, and two other miners had not yet been found in the mines.
Later, on August 3rd, the rescue workers found the last missing miner, Moises Pavez. Tragically, none of the five miners- Paulo Marín Tapia, Gonzalo Núñez Caroca, Carlos Arancibia Valenzuela, Moisés Pavez Armijo, Jean Miranda Ibaceta, Alex Araya Acevedo- survived the incident, leaving many grief-stricken.After the tragic deaths of six miners, Codelco sent out an investigating party, including international experts, to find out the exact cause of the incident, and also expressed great pain at the tragic events that unfolded. “Codelco’s heart is damaged, we are devastated by the pain of the losses, ” said Pacheco, the company’s CEO. They also expressed grievances and empathy to the many families that were affected by the injuries and deaths of the collapsing mine. “We share the anguish this situation causes their families and the entire community,” Codelco said.
This was actually not the first time that an event like this happened at El Tiente. In 2010, a similar event occurred; there was also an earthquake that caused mines to collapse, but unlike this incident, over 33 miners were rescued.