Lima: HEAVY rain and equipment failure stalled efforts in Peru yesterday to rescue seven miners who were trapped in a tunnel hundreds of feet under a landslide three days ago, officials said.
Four of the miners may already be dead, according to a miner who escaped, a day after the small copper deposit mined in region of Arequipa was engulfed.
The breakdown of a generator used to power machinery clearing a path to entrance of the 660 feet-deep tunnel stoked fears that time was running out to find the men alive. Sounds coming from one of the miners stopped early Thursday, said regional mining official Vladimir Bustinza. “That’s not a good sign,” Bustinza told local broadcaster RPP.
The miner who escaped said he believed three of his seven colleagues were alive when he got out.
Rescue efforts at the mine in the Acari district did not begin until late Thursday when word of the landslide reached emergency responders. Attempts to reach the miners were then slowed by debris from landslides that blocked roads and a torrential downpour.
