a race against the clock to save ten miners trapped in a collapsed mine

A race against the clock is underway, Thursday, August 4, to save ten miners who were victims the day before the collapse and flooding of three coal pits in northeastern Mexico. “Time is very important. We are very focused”said Civil Protection coordinator Laura Velázquez. “To get to the mines, you have to go down three shafts. It’s complicated but we managed”she added, adding that the relief workers are trying to evacuate the water to save the miners.

“What I want with all my soul is that we save the miners.”

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, President of Mexico

at a press conference

Some 200 rescuers were sent to the scene of the accident, which occurred 1,100 kilometers north of the capital, in the carboniferous region of Coahuila. Five minors have already managed to get out and have been hospitalized, said the head of Civil Protection. Two of them have been released from the hospital. The situation is complex, because the flooding of three coal pits caused “the softening of the walls inside”explained the Ministry of Security.

At the scene of the accident, relatives of the miners gathered on Wednesday, very distressed, sometimes praying.“Unfortunately, there is not much hope”said a man posing as the cousin of one of the miners, José Luis Amaya, on the news channel Milenio TV (in Spanish). A mother said that one of her two sons was able to get out of the mine, unlike his brother who was still stuck.

The mine went into operation in January with no anomalies ever reported, the local government said. In June 2021, seven miners died in the collapse of another coal mine in the same state. The most serious accident in this region took place in 2006, when a gas explosion in a mine killed 65 people.