The rescue operation of 10 workers who have been trapped for a week in a coal mine in Coahuila, Mexico, entered a crucial stage this Wednesday afternoon, authorities said, announcing that divers and rescuers are ready to enter after days. draining the water that floods the site.
By noon, work brigades had also managed to clear the entrance to the mine, which was blocked by obstacles after a landslide last Wednesday, according to Mexico's Civil Protection office.
"At 11:00 a.m., work began to remove the piles that obstruct the passage in well 4, so that a Sedena diver can make an initial exploration of the existing conditions," said the entity.
Although
since August 3 there has been no news of the miners trapped inside the tunnels that collapsed
due to the flooding of the Sabinas River, the Mexican authorities have expressed confidence in the operation.
"We hope that we will be within hours of carrying out the rescue," said Laura Velázquez, coordinator of Civil Protection, on Wednesday morning.
The shafts within the mine are more than 60 meters deep.
Local media said a Navy diver entered one of the tunnels this afternoon to check conditions inside.
So far it is not clear what their findings were.
The rescue work has advanced this Wednesday after it was possible to reduce the water levels inside the mine.
Until this Wednesday, fire teams and other brigades had extracted 125,453 cubic meters of water, according to Civil Protection.
[“My heart says he is alive”: Relatives of the 10 miners trapped in Mexico hope they will be rescued alive]
The entity reported that 672 elements are working on the site, with 25 pumps, seven drills, two underwater drones, ambulances and other resources.
Relatives of the trapped workers continue on the outskirts of the place clinging to the hope that they will be found alive.
“My heart says that he is alive,” Juanita Tijerina, sister of three of the trapped workers, told Noticias Telemundo.
"I say that miracles exist. Let them be well and let them come out," asked one of the brothers of Mario Cabreales, 45, another of the workers whom he described as "the joy of the family."
AMLO announces investigation
Press reports indicate that the coal mine was being exploited clandestinely and without security conditions.
The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, announced on Wednesday an investigation to clarify the operations at the deposit and the working conditions of the workers.
"An investigation is being carried out to see the responsibility of the owners, the mining concessions and everything that derives from it, because it is regulated," López Obrador said.
"What happens is that the procedures were not followed
, what has to be review is how they are applying the concession, if it was allowed to make these wells for the extraction of coal, if they reported, and (...) to whom they sell the coal”.
An underwater drone entered the Coahuila mine in search of the trapped miners
Aug. 8, 202200:29
The trapped miners worked five days a week, 60 meters underground and temperatures of up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 Celsius), according to a report by the Mexican newspaper El Universal, which ensures that minors have been hired to work there. with a payment of between 100 and 150 pesos per ton of coal.
[Relatives of miners trapped in Mexico hope for a miracle]
"The labor exploitation of the miners is terrible, more so in these coal pits where they work without hydrogeological studies,
without emergency exits, where they are only given a helmet and a lamp as a protection measure,"
Omar assured that medium. Ballesteros, from the organization Familia Pasta de Conchos, which watches over the safety of the miners in Coahuila.
