Tertius News is an AI-native newsroom: an AI model reads the linked source articles below and extracts what each outlet reported, so you can compare their coverage side by side. How this works →

Landslide kills 13 at illegal gold mine in Colombia’s southwest

At least 13 people died and seven were injured in a landslide at an illegal gold mine in Colombia's Narino department, with authorities attributing the collapse to mining activity. The incident comes days after a powerful earthquake struck the country.

By Tertius News AI Desk 2 outlets · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage Aug 20, 2026 Published 4d ago

Landslide at illegal mine kills 13 in southwestern Colombia

At least 13 people were killed and seven others injured when a landslide struck an illegal gold mine in Colombia's southwestern Narino department, local authorities said.

Fredy Gamez, the regional government secretary, told Caracol Radio: "Due to the activity taking place in the mine, a slope collapsed onto the people."

A government source told the AFP news agency that the collapse was triggered by "improper extraction" of ore, which undermined the mine's base. Local authorities have ruled out the initial theory that the collapse was caused by an explosion.

Rescue efforts involving firefighters, excavators and local residents continued until about 2 a.m. Thursday, when officials confirmed that all those missing had been accounted for.

The mine is located in Policarpa, a municipality in Narino, a region known for unregulated mining. According to a government source cited by AFP, such mines in Narino are often operated by criminal groups to finance their activities.

The incident occurred as Colombia continues to recover from a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck the western part of the country on August 17, according to a report by Al Jazeera. The death toll from that earthquake has reached 319, with many more injured, according to the country's National Unit for Disaster Risk Management. President Gustavo Petro has asked the United States, Colombia's top export market, to temporarily suspend tariffs to ease the burden on businesses affected by the quake.

Mining accidents are not uncommon in Colombia's unregulated mines. Earlier this month, 19 people were injured in a similar incident at a gold mine in Marmato, in the Caldas department. In May, a coal mine explosion in Sutatausa, about 70 kilometers north of Bogota, killed nine workers and injured six others.

How each outlet told it

Al Jazeera as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:01 PM UTC

Framing: Emphasizes the location ('southwest') and the illegal mine, but does not specify the exact cause or the number of injured. — alarmed, as it frames the incident within the context of a recent major earthquake and recovery efforts, e.g., 'The Wednesday night landslide comes as Colombia works to recover from a 7.4 magnitude earthquake...'

Facts Included:

At least 13 people have been killed and seven others injured in a landslide at an illegal gold mine in Colombia’s southwest.
Fredy Gamez, the government secretary for the Narino department, told Caracol Radio: 'Due to the activity taking place in the mine, a slope collapsed onto the people.'
The Wednesday night landslide comes as Colombia works to recover from a 7.4 magnitude earthquake on August 10 that struck the western part of the country.
The death toll from the earthquake has reached 319, with thousands of people injured, according to the country’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management.
Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella has asked the US, its top export market, to temporarily suspend tariffs to ease the burden on business owners.
In May, an explosion at a legally operated coal mine in the Cundinamarca department killed nine workers and injured six others.

Read the source article →

Deutsche Welle as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC

Framing: Emphasizes the death toll and the illegal nature of the mine, without specifying location or cause beyond 'collapse'. — factual and measured, e.g., 'At least 13 people were killed and seven more injured in a landslide at an illegal gold mine on Wednesday night.'

Facts Included:

At least 13 people were killed and seven more injured in a landslide at an illegal gold mine on Wednesday night.
The mine is in Policarpa in the southwestern Narino region.
A government source told AFP that the landslide was triggered by 'improper extraction' of ore which undermined the mine's base and triggered a collapse.
Regional government secretary Fredy Gamez told local radio: 'Due to the activity taking place in the mine, a slope collapsed onto the people.'
Local authorities ruled out the initial theory that the collapse was caused by an explosion.
Rescue efforts involving firefighters, excavators and local residents continued until about 2 a.m. on Thursday morning when it was confirmed that all those missing had been located.
Nineteen people were injured in a similar incident at a gold mine in Marmato in the Caldas department earlier this month.
In May, nine workers were killed in a coal mine explosion in Sutatausa, about 70 kilometers north of Bogota.
Illegal mines in regions such as Narino are often operated by criminal groups to help fund their activities.

Read the source article →

What was claimed, and who backed it

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimAt least 13 people were killed and seven more injured in a landslide at an illegal gold mine in Colombia on Wednesday night.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets) via Deutsche Welle as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC, Al Jazeera as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:01 PM UTC
ClaimThe landslide occurred at an illegal gold mine in Policarpa in the southwestern Narino region.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Deutsche Welle as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC
ClaimA government source told AFP that the landslide was triggered by 'improper extraction' of ore which undermined the mine's base and caused a collapse.	ConfidenceMedium	StatusSingle-source via Deutsche Welle as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC
ClaimFredy Gamez, regional government secretary, told local radio: 'Due to the activity taking place in the mine, a slope collapsed onto the people.'	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets) via Deutsche Welle as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC, Al Jazeera as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:01 PM UTC
ClaimLocal authorities ruled out the initial theory that the collapse was caused by an explosion.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Deutsche Welle as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC
ClaimRescue efforts involving firefighters, excavators and local residents continued until about 2 a.m. on Thursday morning when it was confirmed that all those missing had been located.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Deutsche Welle as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC
ClaimNineteen people were injured in a similar incident at a gold mine in Marmato in the Caldas department earlier this month.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Deutsche Welle as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC
ClaimIn May, nine workers were killed in a coal mine explosion in Sutatausa, about 70 kilometers north of Bogota.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Deutsche Welle as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC
ClaimIn May, an explosion at a legally operated coal mine in the Cundinamarca department killed nine workers and injured six others.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusContested via Al Jazeera as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:01 PM UTC
ClaimIllegal mines in regions such as Narino are often operated by criminal groups to help fund their activities.	ConfidenceMedium	StatusSingle-source via Deutsche Welle as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC
ClaimA 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the western part of Colombia on August 10.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Al Jazeera as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:01 PM UTC
ClaimThe death toll from the earthquake has reached 319, with thousands of people injured, according to the country's National Unit for Disaster Risk Management.	ConfidenceMedium	StatusSingle-source via Al Jazeera as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:01 PM UTC
ClaimColombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella has asked the US to temporarily suspend tariffs to ease the burden on business owners.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Al Jazeera as of Aug 20, 2026, 4:01 PM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

2 outlets · 2 articles consulted: Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle 13 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-08-20