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Rescuers recover bodies of miners trapped in Colombia coal mine

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Search and rescue personnel on Saturday finished recovering the bodies of a group of miners who were trapped earlier this week inside an informal coal mine following a methane gas explosion.

The country’s mining regulatory agency announced on social media that four bodies were recovered Saturday. Two others had been found a day earlier and turned over to the Colombian Attorney General’s Office’s investigative unit.

Authorities have said Thursday’s explosion was caused by a methane gas buildup at the Mata Siete mine in Guacheta, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of the capital, Bogota, a region where coal mines are prevalent.

The National Mining Agency previously said the Mata Siete mine operated with an “expired mining permit” and engaged in “illegal coal mining.” It also received a closure order in March 2019.

The agency said the explosion remains under investigation.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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