While some media outlets have reported five dead, regional disaster chief Luis Alfonso Tarazona told the Associated Press that six miners were killed Wednesday at the San Roque operation in Sardinata, in the state of Norte Santander.
The names of the workers have not been released.
According to Xinhua, Colombian officials investigating the explosion’s cause are citing an accumulation of gas while eight miners were working an estimated 800 meters underground.
The South American country has recorded 73 mining deaths so far this year, all from the San Fernando blast in the northwestern state of Antioquia in June.
