The Brigada Central de Salvamento Minero is a group of miners trained to rescue people trapped underground, based at the Pozo Fondón, in Sama de Langreo. It was born in 1912 in La Felguera, has worked in Asturias, Biscay and Málaga, and in August 2026 the Government put its staff at 20.
When someone is trapped underground in Asturias, and sometimes very far from Asturias, the call often goes to a brigade based in Sama de Langreo. There, at a pit that no longer brings up coal, is the Brigada Central de Salvamento Minero (Central Mine Rescue Brigade), a group of miners trained to go in where almost nobody can. It was born in 1912 in La Felguera, has worked in Asturias, in Biscay and in Málaga, and in August 2026 the Government put its staff at 20.
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One brigade for every mine
The brigade was formed in 1912 at the initiative of Duro Felguera. Until then each mining company had its own small rescue team, and several of them joined forces to have better equipment and respond more effectively to accidents, according to a 2019 report by the Efe news agency published in Diario de León. Meer places its beginnings in La Felguera, as a shared rescue brigade, and cites as its legal basis the Reglamento de Policía Minera, the mining safety regulations, of 28 January 1910.
Two years after it was born, in May 1914, it was called to the María Luisa pit, where a firedamp explosion killed four workers. According to Meer, the brigade reports to the Asociación de Salvamento de las Minas (Mine Rescue Association), whose members include the Principality of Asturias, Hunosa and other mining companies, and Hunosa provides the staff and the facilities.
Who joins the brigade
They are, above all, miners. According to Meer, they learn the job in the mine, then pass specific tests, and can't join if they're over 40; the equipment they carry weighs around 24 kilos on average. The 2019 Efe report explained that they were all volunteers who combined the brigade with their work in the pits, and that ten of them were always on standby for emergencies and drills.
Today's figure came from the Government in a parliamentary answer signed on 27 August 2026: the brigade is fully operational and has 20 staff, including officers, brigade members and driver-rescuers, with two internal recruitment calls open to strengthen it. Following the agreement in principle between Hunosa and the unions on the company plan, a Centro Nacional de Entrenamiento en Rescates (National Rescue Training Centre) is due to be created.
What they've done
On 31 August 1995, a firedamp explosion killed fourteen miners at the Nicolasa pit, in Mieres, and the brigade recovered the bodies. In 2017 it took part in the attempt to rescue a French caver who died in a cave in Galdames, in Biscay. It has also trained officers from the National Police's Tedax bomb disposal units in controlled micro-blasting, a technique for rescuing people trapped in collapses.
In January 2019 its name became known all over Spain. A two-year-old boy had fallen down a narrow shaft in Totalán, in Málaga, and the brigade sent eight of its members — two engineers, two technicians and four brigade members, according to Efe — to dig by hand the last stretch of the tunnel that was meant to reach him, with breathing apparatus weighing about 20 kilos on their backs, according to El Independiente. The boy was found dead on 26 January.
On 31 March 2025, an explosion at a coal mine in Cerredo, in Degaña, in the far south-west of Asturias, killed five people. The 112 emergency helicopter flew four brigade members and their director there, and three more went by road to help rescue those trapped, according to RTVC.
It has held the Medalla al Mérito en el Trabajo (Medal of Merit for Work) since 1972 and, since 2007, the Gold Medal with blue distinction for Civil Protection Merit.
The Pozo Fondón
Its base is at the Pozo Fondón, beside the Nalón, between Sama and La Felguera. According to Wikipedia, coal was mined there from 1840, first through the La Nalona drift mine; in 1905 Duro Felguera began deepening the shaft, and in 1995 it stopped producing. Of its two original headframes, one remains.
The Fondón also holds Hunosa's historical archive: some 100,000 plans, 100,000 files, 2,000 books from mining companies and thousands of images, magazines and videos. And the mine, with no more coal to bring up, still gives heat. Since 19 May 2022, a 1.5-megawatt geothermal plant, installed in the three restored halls of the old pithead loading area, has used the mine water to heat, among other buildings, the sports centre, a block of 45 homes, a care home for the elderly and the La Felguera health centre.
If you're passing through Sama
The Fondón isn't a museum and we haven't found any public visits advertised: it's a workplace, with people on call, and that's how it should be seen. You can get there on the Cercanías C-5 line, which stops at Sama-Los Llerones. To see inside a mine, the Pozo Sotón, in the neighbouring concejo (municipality) of San Martín del Rey Aurelio, is, according to Turismo Asturias, the only coal mine in Europe that offers guided tours underground.
Checked
Facts checked in October 2026 against: Congreso de los Diputados (the Government's answer of 27 August 2026), Diario de León (2019 Efe report), Meer, elDiario.es, El Independiente, RTVC, Energías Renovables, Wikipedia (Pozo Fondón, the death of Julen Roselló and Línea C-5 de Cercanías Asturias) and Turismo Asturias.
Quick questions
What rescues has the mine rescue brigade carried out?
It recovered the bodies of the fourteen miners at the Nicolasa pit in 1995, sent eight members to Totalán, in Málaga, in January 2019, and responded to the explosion at the Cerredo mine, in Degaña, on 31 March 2025.
Who can join the brigade?
Above all miners, who learn the job in the mine, pass specific tests and can't join if they're over 40. The equipment they carry weighs around 24 kilos on average.
Can you visit the Pozo Fondón?
It isn't a museum and no public visits are advertised: it's a workplace, with people on call. To see inside a mine, the Pozo Sotón, in San Martín del Rey Aurelio, offers guided tours underground.