All six miners in collapsed Chile copper mine found dead

All six miners trapped in Chile's El Teniente copper mine have been pronounced dead following a partial collapse triggered by a recent earthquake, an official said.

"Today, at 3.30 pm, we finally found the last missing worker from the El Teniente mine," said prosecutor Aquiles Cubillos, Chilean newspaper El Mercurio On-Line reported on Sunday.

This means that no one survived the collapse that occurred on Thursday at the world's largest copper mine.

The National Copper Corporation of Chile (Codelco), which operates the mine, expressed "heartfelt condolences" to the families of the victims.

The accident occurred in a tunnel within the Andesita project after a 4.2-magnitude seismic event caused by mining activity.

El Teniente, which is operated by the Chilean state-owned mining firm Codelco, boasts more than 4,500 kilometres of tunnels and is the largest underground copper deposit in the world.

Last year, it produced 356,000 metric tonnes of copper — nearly seven percent of the total for Chile.

Chile has experienced significant mining disasters, including the 1945 El Teniente accident that killed 355 miners and the 2010 San Jose Mine collapse that trapped 33 workers for 69 days.

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Source: TRT