Miracle in the Puna: Four Miners Rescued After Three Days Buried by Snow at -27°C

Catamarca experienced hours of maximum tension that ended in an outcome few dared to expect. Four miners who had been trapped in the Catamarca Puna were rescued alive after three days buried under snow, in conditions bordering on the impossible. The discovery occurred this Wednesday, when rescuers found the truck where the men had taken shelter from a relentless storm.

According to authorities, the miners endured temperatures as low as 27 degrees below zero and white wind gusts exceeding 140 kilometers per hour. “We are talking practically about a miracle that we found them,” said Gustavo Molina, secretary general of the Argentine Mining Workers Association (AOMA), without hiding his astonishment. Regarding the workers’ condition, the leader stated that “they are lucid. Obviously they have the repercussions of having gone through extreme conditions, but the important thing is that they are well.”

The rescue operation was a race against time. More than 60 people mobilized with five bulldozers, ten trucks, and an ambulance to clear a path through the snow. The miners were working at the Tres Quebradas camp, at 4,500 meters above sea level in the Fiambalá mountain range. According to Molina, they had run out of fuel, leaving them stranded in the middle of the storm.

The search lasted more than two days. On Wednesday morning, rescuers first found a truck with two workers sheltered in the Salar del Hombre Muerto area. Minutes later, they located the other two, who had gone out to find a signal to share their location. The mayor of Antofagasta de la Sierra, Mario Cusipuma, described the storm as an “extraordinary event” and highlighted that the priority was the deployment of heavy machinery, even halting the advance of the Santa María Volunteer Firefighters.

The snowstorm not only affected the miners. Catamarca faces a historic phenomenon that paralyzed activity in the mountain region. In total, the joint operation between security forces, provincial agencies, and private companies rescued another 23 people stranded in Antofagasta de la Sierra, including tourists and workers. But the alert remains in effect: authorities expressed concern about even more intense frosts expected once the snowfall stops, although they noted that the recent delivery of municipal firewood allows rural families to stay sheltered.

The municipality reiterated the request not to travel under any circumstances on Provincial Route 43 or on communal roads, which are completely impassable. The situation also hits livestock producers in the Antofalla, Las Quinuas, and La Aguadita areas, whose animals suffer from snow accumulation on their fur. Meanwhile, the four rescued miners are recovering, with the indelible mark of having lived a true miracle in the Puna.