Nine people were killed and eight others suffered severe burns after an explosion at a clandestine cocaine laboratory in Colombia, near the border with Ecuador, local authorities said on Friday.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the blast was caused by the explosion of a gas cylinder during the production of narcotics.
The laboratory was located on land belonging to the Indigenous Awa community in Nariño, a province in south-western Colombia that is considered one of the country’s main centres for cocaine production and is marked by the strong presence of armed rebel groups.
Colonel John Jairo Urrea said in a video statement that the incident occurred in the early hours of January 23.
The victims were reportedly working for a dissident group that split from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and rejects the 2016 peace agreement signed with the Colombian government.
In a statement, the rebel group confirmed that the explosion was the result of human error while handling gas cylinders, which caused a fire to spread across the site within seconds.
For decades, Nariño province, which borders Ecuador, has been a key hub for drug production, with cocaine trafficked onward to international markets, including the United States.
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