(Mexico City) Rescue operations continued Wednesday in Mexico to find 10 miners trapped in a flooded mine, with no prospect of a rescue soon after two weeks of research and no sign of life from them since August 3.
Posted at 3:56 p.m.
“It’s been 327 hours of uninterrupted work” to save the minors, underlined the national coordinator of Civil Protection Laura Velazquez, who did not give an end date for the research.
The 10 miners disappeared on August 3 in a flooded mine, the El Pinabete mine, located in the state of Coahuila (north), Mexico’s main coal producer.
On Sunday, a sudden rise in the level of the water patiently pumped for more than a week to allow rescuers to descend underground hampered relief efforts and aggravated the despair of the miners’ relatives.
In one of the three wells that rescuers hoped to enter this weekend, the level now stands at 38.04 meters, compared to 1.3 meters earlier on Sunday, Laura Velazquez said.
In an attempt to circumvent the problem, authorities announced a new strategy on Monday of trying to plug water seepage from the neighboring, much larger and abandoned Conchas Norte mine, by drilling 20 holes 60 meters deep. to inject cement.
To this end, the Civil Protection sought advice from two German and American companies so that “they validate all the actions that we carry out, it is important to have a second opinion”, declared Mr.me Velazquez, without giving the names of the companies.
The accident happened on August 3 when miners opened a breach in the El Pinabete mine, causing the water accumulated in the Conchas Norte mine to overflow towards where they were working.
Five workers managed to get out on their own, but 10 other miners have not given any sign of life since the day of the accident.
Coahuila, Mexico’s main coal-producing region, has seen a series of fatal mining accidents over the years. The worst happened in the Pasta de Conchos mine in 2006 when a gas explosion killed 65 miners.