The rescue of 10 workers trapped for 11 days in a flooded mine in Mexico suffered a major setback on Sunday (14) due to a “sudden” rise in water levels that dampened family members’ hopes of seeing loved ones again . .
The water level of Well 2, which was 70 centimeters as of Friday (December 12) and on which the greatest hopes for the next deployment of rescuers are concentrated, has risen to 12.92 meters, the Coahuila state government said in a statement.
“Engineers are already evaluating the actual situation and the cause of the new water entering the mine,” he added.
However, in wells 3 and 4, the water rose to 15.5 meters and 12.5 meters respectively, the statement said, an increase of 8 to 10 meters from levels reported by authorities on Friday.
“A new strategy is being designed by specialized engineers (…) that, with new data, will allow actions to be taken to extract water from the El Pinabete mine,” the government said.
“Extraordinary Conditions”
After receiving the news, Magdalena Montelongo, the sister of Jaime, one of the captured miners, tries to remain calm and collected, but frustration is inevitable.
“I don’t know what strategies or what else they’re going to do,” he told AFP. “Maybe it’s not in their hands anymore, the engineers or whoever’s inside. They don’t know where the water is coming from anymore,” he adds.
The national coordinator of civil protection and responsible for the operation, Laura Velázquez, asked family members to make it clear “that we will not abandon them, neither them nor the trapped miners”, according to a statement.
Velázquez noted that due to its location adjacent to the Conchas Norte mine, which was abandoned some 30 years ago, the El Pinabete mine is experiencing “extraordinary conditions” at a time when it was accumulating “a very high volume” of water .
“The Conchas Norte mine is 100 times larger since the El Pinabete mine is 1.8 hectares and the Conchas Norte mine is 180 hectares,” the civil defense explained in the text.
The miners’ families said on Saturday (13) that they were “desperate” at the slow progress of the salvage operation, while expressing distrust in the leadership of the operation and the maneuvers carried out so far.
“A very strong pain”
On Friday, Velázquez conceded that “there is no way” to know when they might reach the area of the mine where the workers are expected to be trapped.
However, she also said there were “conditions” to entering the mine after the water level dropped.
Family members expressed concern Saturday that the trapped workers could not be rescued, as happened after the accident at the Pasta de Conchos coal mine, also in Coahuila, on February 19, 2006.
At Pasta de Conchos, a mine controlled by conglomerate Grupo México, 65 workers died but only two bodies were recovered.
Gil Rico Montelongo, Magdalena’s cousin, was one of the miners whose remains were never recovered at Pasta de Conchos.
“What I don’t want is for her [falem] that nothing can be done (…) Losing a brother is very strong, it is a very strong pain,” added the 66yearold.
The Agujita accident happened when the wall of an adjacent, flooded and abandoned mine collapsed, flooding the well where 15 miners were working. Five of them managed to escape.
Since then, there has been no sign of life for the 10 remaining workers, whose rescue involves several hundred people, including soldiers, officers and volunteer miners.
Mining accidents are common in Coahuila, Mexico’s main coal producer.