Rescue services have recovered the lifeless body of one of the miners affected in this afternoon’s accident in Cangas del Narcea. This is one of at least three miners whose disappearance has been reported after a collapse was recorded in a mine located in the town of Vega de Rengos, in the Asturian council of Cangas del Narcea, due to a coal fall. The collapse occurred one and a half kilometers from the access to the exploitation, reports the Emergency Service of the Principality of Asturias (SEPA).
The Emergency Coordination Center received notification of the incident at 4:58 p.m. In that call, a collapse of the land was reported, and two miners were trapped, on the second floor of the exploitation. Later, it was indicated that there were three miners with whom there was no contact.
The SEPA has mobilized Firefighters based in the municipality of the mine, in addition to the Rescue Group, who have traveled to the site aboard a medical helicopter. One of the Asturias Firefighters’ multifunction helicopters was also mobilized and transported the Mining Rescue Brigade to the site at 6:18 p.m. Miners from the exploitation who were off duty have joined the rescue efforts.
A resident of the area, a retired miner, who asks that his name not be published, assures that the collapse occurred in the area of the mine ramp, a kilometer and a half from the entrance. In this type of collapse, he explains, there is usually an exit from above and another from below, but “if they are trapped in the middle, the situation is quite serious.”
The president of the Principality, Adrián Barbón, who at the time of the events was in Salamanca, has announced that the Minister of Science, Industry and Employment, Borja Sánchez, and the general directors of Mining and Emergencies have traveled to the place, as has published in X, in addition to the vice president, Gimena Llamedo. “I am outside of Asturias – although I am already organizing my return for tomorrow morning -. Both the Minister of Industry and the Minister of Emergency Management are informing me promptly of what is happening and the rescue operation. Also from the Delegation of the Government of Spain, with whom we maintain constant information. With enormous concern I am following this accident, waiting to receive more information,” the Asturian president continued.
The exploitation managed by TYC Narcea in Vega de Rengos works with anthracite, a coal different from that which has historically been extracted in the Asturian mining basins. Compared to traditional coal, anthracite is harder, scarcer and has a higher fixed carbon content, which makes it suitable for certain steel processes and industrial uses linked to steel. This orientation places the mine in a different niche than the thermal coal that fueled the Principality’s power plants for decades. The activity is carried out under a Complementary Research Project, which was provisionally suspended in April 2025 after the Zarréu accident and reactivated in June once the Principality’s inspections were passed.
TyC Narcea’s activity was paralyzed by the Principality of Asturias at the beginning of April, in which five miners died and another four were injured. On April 6, the General Directorate of Mines decreed the provisional suspension of the Complementary Research Project (PIC) to verify whether the work being carried out complied with the permit granted. This situation led the workers to demonstrate in Oviedo. The Ministry gave the go-ahead on June 5 for the 70 workers to return to work after verifying that the company met all the requirements.
The event comes just a few days after the Central Mining Rescue Brigade, a unit with more than a century of history and known throughout Spain for its participation in some of the most complex rescues in the country, presented its resignation en bloc, denouncing accumulated non-payments of more than 9,000 hours, the lack of generational replacement and the breach of labor agreements that sustain its activity. Although the gesture reflects deep discomfort, the resignation is not immediate and must be resolved within a period of thirty days, during which the force remains operational to intervene in emergencies such as that of Vega de Rengos.
