At least fourteen people have died and seven others have been injured following the collapse of an illegal gold mine in south-western Colombia. The accident occurred in a rural area of Nariño department, where authorities reported that another twelve to fifteen miners remained missing. The local governor, Luis Alfonso Escobar, announced that search and rescue operations had concluded, although uncertainty remained over the whereabouts of those unaccounted for. Emergency response efforts were complicated by poor communications and the community’s remote location, surrounded by dense rainforest and accessible only by boat or small aircraft. The governor described the operation as an informal mine and emphasised the need to support affected families. Unregulated gold mining is widespread in rural Colombia, where inadequate safety measures contribute to deadly accidents. The tragedy follows another mine collapse in Nariño in August which killed thirteen people.