(21 Feb 2024)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4479482, 4479439
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
La Paragua, Venezuela - 21 February 2024
1. People gathered at the river bank as relatives wait for injured or dead after the collapse of Bulla Loca mine
HEADLINE: Gold mine collapses in Venezuela
2. People carrying dead body
ANNOTATION: An illegally operated gold mine has collapsed in central Venezuela, with officials fearing dozens have been killed.
3. Women crying as they wait on the riverbank
ANNOTATION: A wall collapsed in the 'Bulla Loca' mine in the Angostura municipality. It can only be reached by an hours-long boat ride.
4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Karina Rios, relative of Bulla Loca miner:
"She went to look for sustenance for her children, for her home. Here in La Paragua there is no company to work for, to provide for our children, to help them get ahead. We are here waiting for the government to please support us with helicopters, airplanes, and whatever. Just as they mobilize to put an end to (illegal) mining, why don't they also mobilize now in Bulla Loca. There are dead, there are wounded. Why don't they support us? Where are they?"
5. Pick up truck carrying people driving in La Paragua
6. People trying to enter La Paragua airport so they can wait there for the arrival of Bolivar state governor
ANNOTATION: The region's mayor said he planned to take “some 30 caskets” to a community near the mine, as there are fears the death toll will rise.
STORYLINE:
An illegally operated open-pit gold mine collapsed in central Venezuela while dozens of people were working there, leaving an undetermined number of people dead or trapped, officials said Wednesday.
The accident took place in the Angostura municipality on Tuesday when a wall collapsed at a mine known as Bulla Loca, which can only be reached by an hours-long boat ride.
Officials did not yet have a full tally of those killed, trapped or injured, Venezuela’s Ministry of Communication and Information said Wednesday, and no details of rescue efforts were released.
Angostura Mayor Yorgi Arciniega said late Tuesday that he planned to take “some 30 caskets” to a community near the mine, indicating that officials feared the death toll could rise into the dozens.
Venezuela's government in 2016 established a huge mining development zone stretching across the middle of the country, to add new revenues alongside its oil industry.
Since then, mining operations for gold, diamonds, copper, and other minerals have proliferated within and outside that zone.
Many mines operate outside or on the margins of the law.
They offer lucrative jobs for ordinary Venezuelans, but the conditions are brutal.
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