A group of divers who had entered the flooded mine had to abort the operation due to the large amount of debris impeding their progress
The rescue mission of ten miners trapped in a coal mine in Mexico has been suspended due to unsafe conditions in the gallery. Rescuers spent two and a half hours in the pit but have been forced to evacuate due to the risk of collapse and the abundant remains of wood and other obstacles blocking their path. The expedition has been postponed to a date yet to be determined, fueling the despair of the workers’ relatives. Experts consider their chances of survival very low, as they are trapped for more than a week without water or food and, at best, rely on the air reserves of an underground pocket.
After ten days of frustrating waits, hopes for bereaved families were revived on Tuesday when National Civil Defense Coordinator Laura Velázquez announced that rescuers were “hours” away from entering the mine. Earlier, a diver had gone down in a cage to check visibility into the flooded well, as an underwater drone on Monday revealed that the turbidity of the water and the presence of numerous pieces of wood on the bottom or in suspension prevented any incursion from the rescue team.
The mine, located in the state of Coahuila, in northern Mexico, was flooded on the 3rd when a natural wall separating it from another ancient mine was submerged in water after decades of abandonment. Due to the sudden flooding, a dozen workers were trapped 34 meters deep. Since then, no one has had contact with them and it is not even known whether they died in the accident. The only hope for the teams is that they managed to take shelter at a point where the water didn’t reach and they took advantage of an air pocket to survive. The rescue operation has extracted 125,453 cubic meters of water this week, enough volume that the level has partially dropped and the rescue group from the Ministry of Defense was able to enter the mine.
However, authorities said last night that the operation has been suspended because the safety of rescuers cannot be guaranteed. The divers descended into the cage to the bottom of the extraction, but the conditions of uncertainty to proceed are very high. Sticks, wooden slats and brush cover the galleries. The rescue workers have limited themselves to removing these remains from the spillways to facilitate the outflow of the water. Then they rose to the surface. No one knows when they will go down again.
The lengthy bailout has drawn strong criticism against López Obrador’s government and could ignite a political crisis. The families have complained on several occasions about the slowness and inefficiency of the personnel working in the operation, assuring that the main progress in the rescue is in the hands of the prisoners’ companions. The president of Mexico was greeted with booing during his visit to the place a few days ago, as many close friends believed that “he only came to take a picture”.
Source: La Verdad
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