The explosion took place on Friday in the Cucunuba municipality in Cundinamarca province, an area where illegal underground coal mining is widespread and accidents are not uncommon.
“There are 14 people affected,” the national mining agency said on Twitter. “One injured, eight dead and five still missing.”
Legal coal mining in the mountainous Andean country, the world’s fifth-largest exporter of coal, is dominated by Cerrejon, Drummond Co Inc and Glencore Plc.