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Rescuers find no new signs of
trapped Mexican miners
The 200 rescuers working at the
site of a Mexican mine collapse
have heard nothing from the
estimated 65 miners expected to
be below the surface, local
authorities said Monday.
They said that rescue work was
hampered by the risk of gas
explosions, like the one that
triggered the collapse in the
early hours of Sunday morning at
the Pasta de Conchos mine in San
Juan de Sabinas, also known as
Nuevo Rosita, a town of some
40,000 citizens, in Coahuila
state, some 900 km north of
Mexico City.
Reports said that rescuers have
already rescued between 13 and
15 miners, up to six of whom
were suffering fractures and
burns, and were transferred to
the Nueva Rosita hospital some
120 km from the U.S. border.
The trapped miners have now been
30 hours without communication
with the surface and every hour
makes their survival and rescue
less likely, authorities said.
Friends and family of the
trapped miners are holding a
vigil at the mine gates, hoping
for news, praying for their
family members and singing to
lighten the tense wait.
Humberto Moreira, the governor
of Coahuila, is in San Juan de
Sabinas to supervise rescue
work, which is being carried out
by hand, for fear that machinery
could trigger an explosion.
The rescuers have now dug 350
meters without finding a new
miner. The mine reaches 2,000
meters at its deepest point.
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