Today is the decisive day to rescue the 10 trapped miners: AMLO

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, president of Mexico, said that this Saturday is the “decisive” day in the rescue efforts of the 10 miners trapped since Wednesday by a collapse and flooding of a precarious coal deposit in Coahuila.

“Today (Saturday) is a decisive day because, according to the technicians, it will be known if there is a possibility that the divers will enter without risk,” the president wrote on Twitter.

To free the workers, “the main problem is the flood, although the pumping equipment is sufficient and of the highest capacity,” said López Obrador.

The works are focused on reducing the water levels in the mine, tens of meters deep, to allow rescuers to enter.

Some 383 people, including military and civilians, work “without rest” in the collapsed mine, located in the town of Agujita (northeast state of Coahuila), said the spokesman for the Mexican presidency, Jesús Ramírez.

They also operate 19 water pumps capable of extracting up to 60 liters per second from inside the mine, flooded after the collapse of one of its wallsaccording to the state government.

The mine is located about 1,130 km north of Mexico City, in the so-called Coahuila coal region.

After the collapse, five miners managed to get out and were taken to a hospital, of which two were discharged, according to authorities.

The accident occurred when workers encountered an adjoining area filled with water while excavating, which collapsed and flooded the mine.

In June 2021, seven miners died after the collapse of another coal mine in the Múzquiz region, also in Coahuila, the main producer of said mineral in Mexico.

The most serious mining accident in this region, bordering the United States, occurred on February 19, 2006, when a gas explosion at the Pasta de Conchos mine, controlled by the Grupo México conglomerate, caused the death of 65 workers.

Only two bodies were rescued after that tragedy.