A group of divers who had entered the flooded mine had to abort the operation due to the large amount of debris that prevents their progress
The rescue mission of the ten miners trapped in a coal mine in Mexico has been suspended due to the unsafe conditions inside the gallery. The rescuers have remained for two and a half hours in the well, but have been forced to abandon it due to the risk of collapse and the abundant remains of wood and other obstacles that block their path. The expedition has been postponed until a date yet to be determined, which has increased the desperation of the relatives of the workers. Experts consider their chances of survival very low, since they have been trapped for more than a week without water or food and, in the best of cases, depending on the air reserves of some underground pocket.
After ten days of frustrating waiting, the hopes of the relatives were reactivated on Tuesday when Laura Velázquez, national coordinator of Civil Protection, announced that the rescuers were “hours away” from entering the mine. Previously, a diver had gone down in a cage to check the visibility inside the flooded well, since on Monday an underwater drone revealed that the turbidity of the waters and the existence of numerous pieces of wood piled on the bottom or in suspension prevented any incursion. of the rescue team.
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The mine, located in the State of Coahuila, in the north of Mexico, was flooded on the 3rd when a natural wall that separated it from another old extraction flooded with water after decades of abandonment broke. A dozen workers were trapped 34 meters deep due to the sudden flooding. Since then, no one has had contact with them again and it is not even known if they perished in the accident. The only hope for the teams is that they have managed to take shelter at some point where the water did not reach and they were taking advantage of an air pocket to survive. The rescue operation has extracted 125,453 cubic meters of water this week, enough volume so that the level has partially dropped and the rescue group from the Ministry of Defense could enter the mine.
However, the authorities reported last night that the operation has been suspended since it is not possible to guarantee the safety of the rescuers. The divers descended in the cage to the bottom of the extraction, but the conditions of insecurity to advance are very high. Sticks, wooden slats and brush cover the galleries. The rescuers have limited themselves to removing these remains from the spillways to facilitate the exit of the water. Then they have risen to the surface. No one knows when they will go down again.
The long rescue has provoked harsh criticism against the López Obrador government and could end up becoming a political crisis. The families have complained on several occasions about the slowness and inefficiency of the personnel working in the operation and assure that the main advances in the rescue have been left in the hands of the companions of the trapped. The president of Mexico was received a few days ago with boos during his visit to the place, since numerous relatives considered that he “has come alone to take the photo.”
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