Life goes on in the Sabinas mines

Two months after a landslide at the El Pinabete mine, Coahuila, killed 10 workers, Juan Briones descends into a tunnel almost 100 meters deep with only a helmet for protection.

His brother-in-law, Hugo Tijerina, was one of the miners buried in August.

With almost two decades of working underground, Briones knows by heart the risks he faces every day, up to 14 hours.

In his current job, he can get a salary of 2,700 pesos (134 dollars) a week if he achieves the quota of extracting 18 tons of coal, which can rise to 3,300 pesos (164 dollars) if he delivers another two extra tons.

The father of four started working in the industry at the age of 14 and knows that it would be difficult for him to find another profession in the area.

The new deadline to rescue the bodies of the men who died in El Pinabete is up to 11 months.

They will join the more than 3,100 deaths recorded in Coahuila since the mineral began to be exploited in the region, in the 19th century, due to accidents and poor safety conditions.

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