Rescue operations continued Wednesday in Mexico to find 10 miners trapped in a flooded mine with no prospect of rescue shortly after two weeks of investigation and no sign of life on their part since August 3.
“There are 327 hours of uninterrupted work” to save minors, stressed the national coordinator of Civil Protection, Laura Velázquez, who did not give an end date for the investigation.
Sudden rise in water level
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 water patiently pumped for more than a week to allow rescuers to descend underground hampered relief efforts and deepened the desperation of relatives of the miners.
In one of the three wells that rescuers hoped to enter this weekend, the level is now 38.04 meters, compared to 1.3 meters on Sunday, Laura Velázquez said.
In an attempt to circumvent the problem, authorities on Monday announced a new strategy to try to plug the seepage of water from the neighboring, much larger and abandoned Conchas Norte mine, by drilling 20 60-meter-deep wells to inject cement.
Five workers went out alone
At the end, the Civil Protection sued conseil auprès de deux entreprises allemande et américaine pour qu'”elles valident toutes les actions que nous effectuons, il est important d’avoir un deuxième avis”, declared Laura Velazquez, sans donner le nom Business.
The accident occurred on August 3 when the 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 by their own means, but another 10 miners have shown no signs of life since the day of the accident.
Coahuila, Mexico’s main coal-producing region, has seen a number of fatal mining accidents over the years. The worst happened at the Pasta de Conchos mine in 2006 when a gas explosion killed 65 miners.
Source: BFM TV
