One person remains missing after a collapse in a materials mine in Nigua

Santo Domingo.– A person is missing after a collapse occurred this Thursday morning in a material extraction mine located in the municipality of Nigua, San Cristóbal province, an event that activated a large search and rescue operation led by the Civil Defense. The incident occurred around 11:30 in the morning at the mine known as Los Fructuosos, while routine extraction work was being carried out. According to José Luis Cabrera, the provincial director of Civil Defense in San Cristóbal, the rescue organizations were notified at approximately 12:10 p.m., immediately starting operations at the site. According to an official statement, the missing person was identified as Eloy Peña, 55 years old, who worked as an operator of one of the heavy machinery used in the extraction of materials and was in the area at the time of the collapse.

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Cabrera explained that firefighters from Nigua, the Dominican Red Cross, the National Emergency and Security System 9-1-1, and the National Police are jointly participating in the work, who are working with specialized equipment and heavy machinery to remove the debris.

"Since we were notified, we are working in a coordinated manner with all relief agencies to find the whereabouts of the missing operator," the official indicated.

Authorities specified that so far no injured or deceased persons have been reported as a result of the collapse. However, the work continues uninterrupted. “We will continue working until dawn with the aim of obtaining a positive result”, Cabrera affirmed, while pointing out that the teams will remain at the scene until confirming or ruling out the location of the person reported as missing. The collapse keeps local authorities on alert, while the safety conditions in the mine are being evaluated and search and rescue efforts are intensified.