At least 13 people have been killed and seven others injured in a landslide at an illegal gold mine in Colombia's southwest, according to a government official.

“Due to the activity taking place in the mine, a slope collapsed onto the people,” Fredy Gamez, the government secretary for the Narino department, told Caracol Radio about the incident on Thursday. The Wednesday night landslide comes as Colombia works to recover from a 7.4 magnitude earthquake on August 10 that struck the western part of the country.

The death toll from the earthquake has reached 319, with thousands of people injured, according to the country’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management. Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella has asked the US, its top export market, to temporarily suspend tariffs to ease the burden on business owners.

In May, an explosion at a legally operated coal mine in the Cundinamarca department killed nine workers and injured six others.

The latest tragedy highlights the ongoing dangers faced by informal miners in Colombia, who often work in unsafe conditions without proper oversight. Authorities have yet to release the identities of the victims, and rescue operations have been hampered by the remote location of the mine.

Source: www.aljazeera.com