The Last Miner Is Found Dead in El Teniente, the Death Toll Rises to 6
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August 3, 2025 Hour: 8:01 pm
Chilean authorities confirmed this Sunday the discovery of the lifeless body of the last miner who remained missing after the collapse on Thursday at the El Teniente mine, bringing the death toll from the tragedy to six.
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“We have been able to recover the bodies in a short period of time, despite the risk and complexity of the operations. We have been able to contribute to the peace and serenity of the families,” said Aquiles Cubillos, prosecutor of O’Higgins, the region 120 kilometers south of Santiago where the mine is located, at a press conference.
The collapse occurred on Thursday after an earthquake of magnitude 4.2 on the Richter scale in the Andesita sector, one of the deepest levels of the mine, considered the largest underground copper deposit in the world.
The unknown at this time remains the cause of the earthquake: whether it originated naturally or was caused by the drilling of the Chilean state-owned company Codelco, the largest copper producer in the world and owner of the mine.
“Codelco has actively collaborated so far and will continue to do so with everything necessary to clarify every detail of this tragedy because we are the first interested in understanding quickly and reliably what happened,” said the chairman of the board of the mining company, Máximo Pacheco, at a subsequent press conference.
“The families and each of the people who work at Codelco deserve it, this company that is a source of pride for Chile worldwide deserves it,” added Pacheco.
Mining operations remain halted at the underground deposit (the surface operation remains operative) and the prosecutor reported that the site of the collapse will be “closed” for the duration of the investigation.
“What we can guarantee is that we are going to conduct an objective investigation and we are going to invite all those who want to cooperate in it (…) We do not have a fixed hypothesis, it is a completely open investigation,” Cubillos acknowledged.
During the rescue, about 3,270 tons of material were removed to clear the gallery and reach the miners.
The accident is the most serious to occur in more than three decades at El Teniente since 1990, when another “rock explosion” left six miners dead.
Among the rescuers are many who participated in the famous 2010 rescue of the 33 miners trapped for more than two months in the San José mine in northern Chile, an operation that made headlines around the world.