An explosion that roared through a makeshift coal mine has killed 32 miners in northeast Colombia, most still buried in gas-filled tunnels below ground, a civil defense official said. Yesid Arias, who is helping to coordinate the rescue operation, made the announcement shortly before midnight Saturday after rescue crews recovered three bodies. They located 29 more bodies buried about 400 meters (1,300 feet) underground but were unable to safely remove them from the mine in the remote hamlet of San Roque, 255 miles (410 kilometers) northeast of Bogota. «We have orders to work through the night and recover the bodies as quickly as possible, but unfortunately there's still plenty of trapped methane gas that's making it unsafe for work crews to stay underground for any extended period of time,» Arias was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
