The incident was reported Wednesday afternoon, when the miners encountered an deserted tunnel with water that flooded the mine, authorities mentioned.
Rescuers managed to extract 5 individuals from the mine on Wednesday, and at the moment are working to pump water out of the flooded space, in accordance with National Coordinator of Civil Protection, Laura Velazquez, who’s overseeing the rescue operation.
“We haven’t slept, we’re working day and evening, uninterrupted,” mentioned Velazquez on Thursday.
“We are strategically placing pumps in every of those wells to have the ability to extract the best quantity of water and have fast entry to the mines and rescue the miners as quickly as potential,” she mentioned.
Early on Thursday morning, six particular forces divers joined the rescue operations, General Agustin Radilla mentioned. There has been no replace on their findings as of but, nonetheless.
“They say the water is rising…I need my husband to come back out all proper,” mentioned the spouse of 1 trapped miner, Erika Escobedo, to Reuters.
She advised the information company that she had spent “all evening watching rescue efforts on the web site.”
Governor Miguel Riquelme, of Coahuila and Zaragoza state, traveled on Thursday to the municipality of Sabinas the place the mine is positioned.
“Five water extraction pumps totaling 150 horsepower are presently working and different submersible pumps are being put in, that are being despatched by corporations within the area and thus proceed with the rescue efforts,” he wrote on Twitter.
Sabinas isn’t any stranger to mining tragedies. In 2006, an explosion in a neighborhood mine killed 65 individuals. In 2011, 14 miners have been trapped and confirmed useless following one other mine blast in Sabinas.
According a press release launched by Mexico’s Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare, the mine the place the ten are presently trapped solely started operations in January, and “doesn’t have a historical past of complaints for any kind of anomaly.”
In his day by day press briefing on Thursday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador mentioned any investigation into the mine would come solely after the rescue operation had concluded.
“Those accountable, the permits, the inspections, every little thing, all of that, we’re leaving till after. We have already got the essential data,” he mentioned.
“But let’s not discuss that now, let’s look to avoid wasting the miners.”
Reporting contributed by Daniela Gonzalez-Roman in New York City and Karol Suarez in Mexico City. Previous reporting by Gustavo Valdes and Marlon Sorto.