Rescue teams in Chile are running to find the last worker trapped in the world’s largest underground copper mine after the earthquake on Thursday.
The state-owned Kodelco company said on Sunday that five workers now came to know about 70 km (43 mi) in the south-east of the capital Santiago since the collapse of the El Tenant mine in the southeast.
One of those killed died on Thursday after an earthquake, but the authorities searched for a group trapped by collapse – four of whom have now been declared dead.
In its latest statement, Kodelco said its priority is recovering Missing Minor.
Some underground tunnels of the mine collapsed on Thursday due to a shock of 4.2 magnitude. Miners were working deep under the surface.
Kodelco has named two of the victims – Paulo Marin and Gonzalo Nunez Carca – but said that other people were not identified “by the authorities”.
The copper mining company said, “We share the pain that this situation causes their families and the entire community.”
Rescuers are using heavy machinery in an attempt to clean the blocked route to try to reach the miners.
Codelco said that rescue teams had cleaned 24 meters (78.7 feet) of the blocking route in the mine.
El Tenant is the world’s largest underground copper mine. It is located high in Andes Mountains in Central Chile.
Officials have said that they are investigating whether the earthquake was the cause of mining activity or natural tectonic change.
