CARACAS, May 22 (Xinhua) -- At least four people were killed after a mine collapsed in southeast Venezuela's Bolivar state, authorities said on Wednesday.
"The National Risk Management System reports that the collapse of a mine was registered in the Purgatorio mining district," in the municipality of Sifontes, the deputy minister of Risk Management and Civil Protection, Carlos Perez Ampueda, said on social media platform X.
All four victims were found dead and "walled up" due to the collapse of the illegal mine, according to Perez Ampueda.
The bodies were being transferred by river to San Martin de Turumban and then to Tumeremo, he said.
This is the second deadly cave in at an illegal mine in southern Venezuela. In February, 16 people died after the Bulla Loca mine in the Bolivar state caved in.
Since last year, Venezuelan military and security forces have stepped up measures to eradicate illegal mining in the southern states of Amazonas and Bolivar. ■
