At least 23 Colombian miners killed in explosion

SARDINATA, Colombia, Feb 4 (Reuters) Explosions killed at least 23 workers in a Colombian coal mine in the northeastern province of Norte de Santander and another eight were feared dead, officials said today.

''There were 31 men in the mine at the time of the explosions,'' Fernando Rosales, head of the province's civil defense corps, told Reuters.

Rescue and recovery attempts, complicated by deadly gases remaining in the mine shafts, resumed at daybreak today after being suspended the night before. The bodies of 23 miners were recovered from the La Peciosa mine near the town of Sardinata while eight others remained underground.

''It is impossible that those still in the mine are alive due to the high amount of poisonous gas in the mine shafts. It would be a miracle if they are alive,'' Carlos Garcia, head firefighter leading the rescue attempt, told Reuters.

Rescue workers face the danger of more explosions at the small, privately-owned mine due to combustible gasses, local officials said.

''I can't believe what is happening. I would not wish this on anyone,'' said Jorge Vergara, brother of two of the trapped miners, sadness etched on his face as he stood at the entrance of the mine with other victims' family members and friends.

They said they wanted to know what caused the explosion and if it could have been prevented.

President Alvaro Uribe visited the site at midday, assuring the crowd: ''The government will follow this case very closely.'' Nearby, rescue workers studied maps of the mine, got oxygen tanks ready and put on masks and helmets, preparing to descend.

La Preciosa produces coal for domestic consumption.

A similar accident occurred in the town of El Zulia, also in the mountainous province of Norte de Santander, when a coal mine explosion killed 15 people in 2001.

Norte de Santander is an area contested by left-wing rebels and far-right paramilitary militias fighting a decades-old guerrilla war. Both groups, branded terrorists by Washington, fight over control of cocaine smuggling routes from the province into neighboring Venezuela.

REUTERS SRS BST0051