Fourteen killed in a gold mine collapse in Colombia's Narino department

20 October 2026

Fourteen people were killed and seven injured when a gold mine collapsed in the rural Chambero sector of the Santa Barbara de Iscuande municipality in Narino department, in south-western Colombia.
Jorge Tovar Castillo, a disaster response official in Narino, reported that between 12 and 15 more miners were missing.
The Governor of Narino, Luis Alfonso Escobar, said search and rescue operations had concluded and described the mine as informal.
Santa Barbara de Iscuande is surrounded by dense rainforest and can be reached only by boat or small aircraft, and communication with the site was difficult.
Municipal authorities were handling the response.
Thirteen people died in a similar accident in August in Policarpa, also in Narino department.