On July 31, 2022, a landslide blocked gallery 265 trapping two of the 70 workers that were on site. The men ended up in a 375-square-meter space located about 31 metres below the surface.
Given that each worker wears a tracking device, mine personnel and local authorities were able to locate the trapped men within a few hours of the accident. They were also able to drill a section of the blocked shaft and introduce a pipe to provide the miners with food, water, and medication, as well as to communicate with them.
Due to the lack of expertise in the Dominican Republic on underground mining, President Luis Abinader reached out for help to the Canadian ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, as well as to the Armed Forces.
After internal coordination, the Canadian government decided to send a Boeing C-17 Globemaster military aircraft carrying mining excavation equipment weighing over 52,000 lbs.
The machinery to be used in the…
