#Mexico #rescuers #enter #workers #trapped
Rescuers hope to soon enter a flooded coal mine in northern Mexico to search for 10 workers who have been trapped for a week, authorities said on Wednesday.
“We’re very close to being able to enter,” said Laura Velazquez, national coordinator of civil protection.
“All rescuers have the necessary equipment to be able to board at any time, hopefully today,” she told reporters in Mexico City via video link.
Hundreds of soldiers and other rescuers are taking part in the operation in Agujita, in northern Coahuila state, with 25 pumps and two underwater drones.
So far, the focus has been pumping water from the 60-meter-deep mine, where desperate relatives have gathered, waiting for news.
The water in the shafts has dropped significantly from more than 30 meters originally, but still needs to be reduced by several meters before it can safely enter, Velazquez said.
According to authorities, the miners were digging when they encountered an adjacent area full of water.
Five workers managed to escape from the roughly constructed mine in the first aftermath of the accident on August 3, but there was no contact with the others.
Coahuila, Mexico’s main coal producing region, has seen a number of fatal mining incidents over the years.
The worst accident was an explosion that killed 65 people at the Pasta de Conchos mine in 2006.
Last year, seven miners died when trapped in the region.
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