Who are Oscar Diaz and Anilson Soares, the two colleagues who died in the Astoria mine collapse?

The tragedy that occurred yesterday in the Vega de Ringos coal mine, in Asturias, where two workers died in a collapse, today has two names and two stories that leave a deep silence in Cangas del Narcea and throughout Asturias: Oscar Díaz Rodríguez and Anilson Soares de Brito, colleagues of the gallery.

The two workers were trapped a mile from the mine entrance and neither of them was able to return home alive. Once again, the mine claimed the lives of two hard-working young men, linked to the trade for years, in the ill-fated year of 2025 for Asturian mining, when in March five miners died and four others were injured in the Zario (Degania) mine: the tragedy was repeated again.

Oscar Diaz: Commitment of the new mining generation

Oscar Díaz, 32, grew up in Posada de Ringos, a town where mining is part of the landscape and collective identity. Those who knew him describe him as a quiet, reserved, hard-working person who had great respect for the astrologer and his colleagues. What stands out about Oscar is his impeccable way of working and his impeccable sense of responsibility.

At his age he already had a long history in Asturian mining. Disciplined and with a mission that was especially valuable underground, Oscar was proud to be part of the mining land and represented a generation that still believed in the profession and wanted to continue supporting it. Unfortunately, the mine shafts where he grew up and which made him fall in love with mining from a young age, were the same holes that took his life yesterday, on a grey, cold and rainy afternoon in Cangas del Narcea, where no one wanted to face a tragedy like this.

Anelson Soares: From Cape Verde to the mine

The second worker who died yesterday in the tragic collapse of the Vega de Ringos mine was Anilson Soares, 42 years old, a resident of Villabellino, where he arrived after migrating from Cape Verde in search of a job opportunity that would allow him a better life. He was given this opportunity through the same profession that claimed his life yesterday: mining. Anelson was part of the second generation of Cape Verdeans who settled fifty years ago in the Lassiana region to work for coal companies in the Lyon Basins.

Anelson, a father of two children aged 15 and 10, was a well-liked person in the area, and his kind and smiling personality did not go unnoticed and endeared him to people, just as he had done at the Kanguisa mine, where he was always ready to lend a helping hand. Years earlier, the mine had already claimed the life of Anelson’s brother, specifically in the Hijos de Baldomero mine in Laciana. Although this wound never completely healed, he continued to work at the entrance to the mine, in a job that allowed him to support his family financially, and where he hoped he would not have to give up his life. Anelson’s everlasting smile was wiped away yesterday afternoon by a landslide.

Mine was inspected a day ago

The farm they were working on passed its last inspection on Thursday, just twenty-four hours before the collapse. But that didn’t stop Fate from going underground. There, Oscar and Anilson were trapped with no way to escape the collapse that occurred on the second level of the farm, operated by TYC Narcea. Although there was initially hope that they would be able to survive, the Mining Rescue Brigade rescued the two lifeless bodies. At the mine entrance, family, neighbors and friends waited anxiously, remembering how just months earlier they had gathered with 70 workers to protest working conditions.

The accident comes almost eight months after the accident that occurred at the Zario mine (Degania) on March 31, in which five miners died and four others were injured. After this incident, the General Directorate of Mines issued a decree temporarily suspending TYC Narcea’s complementary research project in Vega de Ringos, which was lifted months later, after all permits had been validated.

Two days of mourning

The principality’s president, Adrien Barbon, announced that official mourning would be declared for two days after the accident. He explained that the mine has “extremely high” safety conditions and that it was inspected on Thursday.

This came in Vega de Ringos, the place he went after learning of the incident, and after canceling his participation in an event organized by the Socialist Workers’ Party of Castile and León.

Asturias is in mourning again.