Trapped
Mexican miners have perished: authorities
By
Alexandre Peyrille
AFP
SAN
JUAN DE SABINAS, Mexico
Petroleumworld.com
02 26 06
Sixty-five Mexican miners trapped in a mine six days ago are dead,
the mine manager told their family members Saturday.
The miners were trapped 150 meters (500 feet) below ground early
on February 19 when an apparent gas explosion caused a cave-in
in a two-kilometer (1.2-mile)-long tunnel inside the mine.
Throughout the week rescuers used shovels, picks and bare hands
as they struggled to dig their way towards the trapped men, fearing
that heavy equipment could trigger a further collapse or gas explosions.
The work was halted late Friday, with none of the miners rescued
or their corpses covered, because conditions had become too dangerous
inside the tunnel.
Mine manager Ruben Escudero "informed us that all the miners
are dead. There is nothing that can be done," Juan Hernandez,
the nephew of trapped miner Margarito Zamoran , told reporters
Saturday.
In a press conference soon after, Arturo Garcia de Quevedo, the
president of Grupo Industrial Minera Mexico (GIMMEX), the consortium
that owns the mine, declined to confirm the deaths. But he said
that the conditions inside the tunnel following the February 19
blast "made survival impossible".
A high concentration of methane "caused a large explosion
affecting the totality of the underground installations, with
temperatures of 600 degrees C (1,112 degrees F) and a great expansive
blast wave" that affected the whole mine, Garcia said.
Authorities said a commission, including relatives of the victims,
would be established to determine the causes of the blast.
Mexico's Labor Minister Francisco Salazar said he would ensure
that Grupo Mexico pays promised indemnities to victims' families
totalling more than 70,000 dollars, plus scholarships for the
children.
The miners earned about 57 dollars a week working in the Pasta
de Conchos mine, located just outside San Juan de Sabinas, a town
of some 40,000 people in Coahuila state, near the southern US
border.
Rescuers late Friday halted their search, citing safety concerns,
leading relatives to despair. The team of 100 rescuers ran into
problems that included weak and collapsing tunnels and methane-filled
air that made breathing impossible.
By that point the rescuers had removed more than 800,000 tonnes
of rock and earth.
Earlier Saturday President Vincente Fox expressed sympathy for
the families of trapped coal miners.
"To the families of the miners, all my sympathy, my support,"
Fox said in a message to distraught relatives.
"I know how painful it is for them. I know the difficulty
this uncertainty is causing, but they should know we are doing
all we can and more to try to rescue their relatives," Fox
told reporters in the northeastern state of Guanajuato.
But the case shed light on social tensions, and the impression
among some family members that the workers' fate was not authorities'
top priority.
Raul Vera, bishop of Saltillo, offered a mass Saturday at which
he slamed authorities, union officials and executives. "Our
society's culture and mentality have got to change, away from
the idea that all average workers are second-class citizens,"
he said.
Labor Minister Salazar said on Friday that the chances of finding
the miners alive diminished as time went by.
Coahuila state holds about 95 percent of Mexico's coal reserves,
and hundreds of miners have been killed in mining accidents in
the area.
AFP
02 26 06
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© 2006 AFP. All rights reserved
