BOGOTA (Reuters) - Twelve miners were killed in a flooded underground coal mine in northeastern Colombia, the world's fourth-largest exporter of the mineral, local officials and rescue workers said on Friday.
Flooding in the mine, located in the Amaga municipality in Antioquia, a region that has been the site of various mining accidents in recent years, occurred on Thursday afternoon.
"We know that all the miners are dead," said Carlos Mario Usma, the municipality's environmental director. "They were trapped at more than 200 meters, and the cavern is completely flooded."
A perforation made in a subterranean water source during mining activities seemed to have caused the flooding, Usma said.
"The mine flooded, 12 people were trapped, 28 managed to escape," said Isabel Posada of the Amaga mayor's office. "We are waiting for the recovery of the bodies."
Rescue workers have begun efforts to remove the miners' remains.
Accidents in Colombian gold and coal mines have increased in recent years, due in part to a growth in illegal mining and safety failures.
An explosion in a coal mine killed 73 people in June 2010, the country's worst mining disaster.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)