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Rescue forces continue to face adverse conditions that prevent their entry into the mine in northern Mexico, where they remain trapped ten workers for eight days, authorities reported Thursday.
Two military divers, three civilian rescuers and three military elements of the Emergency Response Team or Disaster Response Team made four descents Wednesday in shaft number 4, where they removed 13 wooden poles and 15 meters of hose, the Directorate General said. of the Social Communication of the Ministry of National Defense.
“They found him they have no room to go onhave obstacles there is wood“Defense Secretary Luis Cressio Sandoval declared, after four relegations which were carried out on Wednesday in one of the shafts through which an attempt is made to access the flooded sinkhole.
Excavators and cranes at the accident site. Photo: Pedro Pardo / AFP
However, “these activities will continue, divers will keep trying“to enter, added the general in the morning conference of President Andres Manuel López Obrador.
Hundreds of soldiers and other rescuers participate in the rescue operation at the coal mine of El Pinabete, in the city of Agujita, in the state of Coahuila, where a flood on Wednesday 3 left 10 miners trapped.
A soldier and a volunteer miner temporarily submerged on Wednesday afternoon, trying to determine if there were conditions for the entry of military divers through the narrow moat.
But “even with the lights they bring to be able to observe the interior (they established it) they don’t have visibility necessary to identify what is found, ”Sandoval insisted.
However, he pointed out that the water level in the three wells through which they try to evacuate the workers continues to decline thanks to the extraction that is carried out with motorized pumps.
One of the sinkholes is already at 4.9 meters, from the 30 meters of water that was the day after the accident, despite the level considered optimal for rescue is 1.5 meters.
“We hope that today (for this Thursday), as many as 2, will reach levels in which rescuers can enter”, said the national coordinator of Civil Protection, Laura Velázquez at the presidential conference.
“We will evaluate it throughout the day. We have to be careful not to expose anyone,” he added.
The accident
The accident happened when a gang worked in coal mining and opened a hole in an adjacent mine that was flooded, causing water to overflow the area they were maneuvering, according to the government.
Soldiers assist in rescue operations. Photo: Pedro Pardo / AFP
In the coal mine, located in the municipality of Sabinas, 15 miners worked, but only five managed to get out after the ingress of water.
The miners, all low incomeThey worked on the spot without security measures o control by the authorities.
Since the day of the accident, the authorities have begun to extract water from wells, about 60 meters deep, with the help of about twenty extraction pumps. However, the process was delayed because the level dropped very slowly, because as the water came out of one side, entered through another.
Aerial view of the mine. Photo: Pedro Pardo / AFP
Given this situation, the emergency team decided to drill twice in the area to prevent more water from entering.
ON the condition in which the 10 miners would have found themselves trapped the authorities did not offer information, but the specialists acknowledged it it is very difficult for them to get out alive and they say it will all depend on whether they managed to find a space to shelter from the water.
The collapse of the mine is reminiscent of the tragic incidents that have occurred in Mexico in recent years.
According to the Pasta de Conchos Family, which brings together relatives of deceased miners in 2006 there were collapses in the mine of the same name, also in Coahuila over 100 dead of coal miners in this area ever since.
AFP
ap
Source: Clarin
