Tears as mine tests show lack of oxegen
Air quality tests in a section of a Mexican coal mine where as many as 26 miners could have been working have shown there is not enough oxygen to sustain life, it was announced early today.
Although rescuers have not found any bodies in the area, the news was met with tears by family and friends waiting outside the Pasta de Conchos mine for word on the fate of the 65 miners, who have been trapped since an explosion on Sunday morning. Some shouted at officials to tell them the names of the 26 workers who could have been in the area.
The tests of air quality by Mexican officials were confirmed by US mine experts.
“According to the analysis collaborated by Mexican and US scientists, the air is not breathable and cannot sustain life,” Mexican labour secretary Francisco Salazar said outside the mine, standing next to mine administrator Ruben Escudero.
Luis Gonzalez, whose nephew is trapped in the mine, said he was still holding out hope.
“You have to wait until they find the bodies, before saying whether they are dead or alive,” he said.
Escudero said 18 to 26 workers could have been working in the area, but the miners may also have moved on to another section.
Earlier, Coahuila governor Humberto Moreira Valdes, who is monitoring the rescue efforts, told W Radio that the results of the experts’ tests would allow officials to determine the miners’ possibilities of survival.
But Salazar and Escudero said they would not speculate on the air quality in the rest of the mine.
Rescuers broke through an enormous wall of debris yesterday, finding high levels of methane gas but no sign of two workers who were thought to be there.
The discoveries dimmed hopes for the trapped miners, but authorities refused to rule out the chance of survival.
Officials said the levels of toxic gas were increasing as rescuers advanced deeper into the mine, but they stopped short of saying they thought the miners were dead.
“The air as the rescue advances is increasingly lacking in oxygen and more laden with methane, which makes it less breathable,” Salazar told family members and reporters gathered outside the gates of the mine.
“The conditions are becoming increasingly adverse,” added Escudero. “It is grave, and being realistic, we think the situation is difficult.”
Ten experts from the US Mine Safety and Health Administration entered the mine’s tunnels with equipment to measure gas levels, Salazar said.
Escudero said rescuers had advanced 875 yards inside the 1.75 mile-long mine, more than 110 yards beyond where two conveyor belt operators were believed to be trapped.
Officials earlier said that the condition of the two men might give a hint about the fate of the other workers.
But Escudero said there was no sign of them, which he said meant they either had been buried under debris or were in a different part of the mine.
Rescuers have used picks, shovels, and their hands – in lieu of powerful machinery – to avoid more explosions. After four days of digging narrow passages through hundreds of tons of rubble, they insisted they would not give up.
Fresh air was being pumped to an area of the mine that had been cleared with the hope that rescuers could shed their heavy oxygen tanks and work faster. Escudero also said tubes of water were scattered throughout the min. While not intended for drinking, they could be consumed in an emergency.
Mine operators say the blast was an accident and the mine, about 85 miles south west of Eagle Pass, Texas, had passed recent government inspections.
But several miners interviewed by The Associated Press told of being sent into dangerously unstable shafts without training or proper equipment.
The national miners’ union said on Wednesday that workers had gone on strike against mine owner Grupo Mexico SA de CV at least 14 times, “not only for salary increases ... but because of its constant refusal to review security and health measures”.
But Industrial Minera Mexico president Xavier Garcia said the union and the company had signed an agreement certifying the mine was safe on February 7.
