Syria, Spain.- three geologists died Thursday when staying trapped underground in a mine of potash in northeastern Spain, reported firefighters.
The three worked in the mine Cabanasses de Súria, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Barcelona. Firefighters from the Catalan region confirmed the deaths in the collapse, which occurred shortly before 9 a.m., at 900 meters (almost 3,000 feet), and the bodies were recovered.
The mine is operated by ICL Iberia, the Spanish subsidiary of the Israeli firm ICL Group. An official from the Spanish company confirmed that the three men were Spanish and experienced geologists, and that two of them were graduate students at the Manresa School of Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
A minute of silence was observed at the university on Thursday afternoon.
The mine employee, Carlos Arnaldo, said that the collapsed section was built only a few days ago. The regional business chief, Roger Torrent, said that an “exhaustive and periodic control” of the mine was carried out three weeks ago.
The president of the Catalan region, Pere Aragonès, sent his condolences to the affected families, for what he described as a “tragic accident”. The regional government labor department said it will investigate the incident, and a judicial investigation has also been launched.
Some 20,000 people work in the mining sector in Spain, according to statistics from the Ministry of Energy, a figure that has been reduced by half in the last two decades.
Between 2016 and 2021, the latest year for which figures exist, An average of four workers per year die in the mining sector.
