The investigation was launched as relatives to accuse mining companies of doing “less and less” to guarantee security.
An explosion in a mine in the Northern Spanish region of the Asturias killed at least five workers and injured four others, according to local emergency services.
The accident occurred on Monday morning at the Cerredo mine in Degana, about 450 km (280 miles) northwest of Madrid, killing five people from the neighboring region of Leon ranging from 32 to 54 years.
Adriana Lastra, a representative of the central government of Asturias, told journalists on the scene that initial indications have shown that the explosion could have been caused by methane forming an explosive mixture in the mine, a phenomenon known as the Firedamp.
“The police are already investigating what happened, they are already on the scene,” said Lastra.
The wounded were taken to the hospitals of neighboring cities, including two by helicopter, suffering from burns and, in one case, a head injury.
While the news of the explosion spread, the families of workers flocked to the site, surrounded by police vehicles and emergency services.
“It is scandalous. Companies guaranteed security, but they do it less and less,” said Jose Antonio Alvarez, a parent of deceased minors, said regional newspaper El Comercio.
The local newspaper La Voz de Asturias said that the mine belonged to a recently created local company called Blue Solving, which was trying to reuse the site for the extraction of “high performance minerals” for industrial use.
The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez sent his “sincere condolences” to the families of the victims and wished to “rapid recovery” to the injured, in a message published on X.
The head of the regional government of Asturias, Adrian Barbon, said two days of mourning “as a sign of respect for the deceased”.
The mining has been a major industry for centuries in Asturias, a densely wooded mountainous region.
