Relatives of the 10 miners who were trapped hundreds of feet underground when a coal mine was flooded earlier this month in Coahuila, Mexico, accepted this Monday the end of the rescue operation, according to Mexican media reports, although the final decision is pending. pending the agreement of all the widows and there is disagreement from other relatives about this decision.
Under the agreement, a chapel would be erected in memory of the workers at the accident site, after almost four weeks of frustrated attempts to reach them and get them out alive.
Mexican authorities concluded last week that the entire interior of the El Pinabete mine had filled with water and that the new rescue plan would take months, so the chances of finding them alive were practically nil.
Relatives of miners trapped in a coal mine wait for information outside the mine in Sabinas on August 4, 2022. Elizabeth Monroy / AP
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador reported on Sunday that federal authorities had reached an agreement with relatives to accept the new plan, which provided for a period of 11 months to rescue the miners.
"We sent to consult with the relatives," López Obrador said, "they became very sad, it is a very difficult situation, very very difficult. They were very upset, they did not want anything. And they have already accepted."
[These are the 10 miners trapped in a Coahuila mine for eight days]
Relatives pointed out in an interview with the Reforma newspaper that the head of Civil Protection, Laura Velázquez, spoke with them on Sunday night and convinced them to leave their bodies underground.
"The widows accepted that there is going to be a novena and that everything is going to stop," said Juanita Tijerina Amaya, sister of Hugo Tijerina, one of the miners who disappeared after the flood.
"Everything is going to stop, there is no longer going to be pumping, there is going to be nothing," he said, "thanks to the lady who pressured the widows to decide, in less than an hour, what they were going to do to want".
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Tijerina denounced that the authorities did not allow other relatives such as the daughters and fathers to participate in the meeting, to which only the wives of the workers could attend.
On Saturday there will be another official meeting where the widows are expected to sign the agreement to end the rescue mission.
"The rest of the wives and other direct relatives want the rescue to continue. [Velázquez] does not want anything with the relatives, only with the widows. One feels hands tied, according to what they are forcing them to accept the compensation, but not they can do that,” Magdalena Montelongo, sister of Jaime Montelongo, a worker who was affected, denounced in an interview with El Financiero.
Under this agreement, in addition to compensation, the land where the four interconnected shafts of the mine are located would be donated to the families to build a chapel.
"I want the president to face us, to come, because he told us that he was going to support us to get the bodies out and now everything stops," lamented Tijerina.
