11 trapped in illegal Honduran gold mine

Rescuers working with pickaxes, shovels and their bare hands are racing to dig out 11 miners trapped by a landslide at an illegal gold mine in southern Honduras, officials said on Thursday.

The workers were trapped when the entrance of the mine in San Juan Arriba, 70 miles south of the capital Tegucigalpa, partially collapsed shortly after 22 miners entered to search for gold on Wednesday, but half were able to get out on their own, said Oscar Triminio, a spokesman for the fire services.

Honduran Deputy Environment Minister Carlos Pineda told local television the mine was illegal and that it had been ordered closed by mining authorities several months ago.

"An inspection proved that these are not tunnels with wood supports and lighting, it's just a hole in the ground," he said.

Rescue workers said they had made contact with three of the workers and were close to freeing them, though eight are still missing and it was unclear whether they are alive.

"The situation is complex, it is difficult because the tunnels are narrow, they branch off in a number of directions," Moises Alvarado, a senior emergency services official in the region, said in a telephone interview.

Another problem, authorities said, was the rescue effort might be halted due to rain. "That area is all limestone, which is sensitive to rain and could cause landslides, threatening the safety of the people involved in the rescue," Triminio said.

Heavy machinery was not being used at the site, officials said, because the mine is unstable. More than 300 Red Cross volunteers, firefighters and people who live near the mine in the town of El Corpus were digging by hand in an effort to reach the miners.

The collapse occurred in a drought-stricken region of Honduras that had been a gold mining center for Spanish colonists. The rise in gold prices in recent years had spurred dozens of small mines to open in the area. Mayor Luis Rueda said there are more than 50 mines in the area, some of them as much as 650 feet underground

Alvarado said many of the mines did not meet the most basic safety requirements and added that there were no maps of the underground structures, making the rescue operation harder.

Wire services