SAN JUAN DE SABINAS,
Mexico – A gas explosion in a coal mine in northern Mexico on Tuesday
killed three miners, injured one and left 11 others trapped deep
underground. Officials said chances were slim that anyone could have
survived the massive blast.
Labor Secretary
Javier Lozano said mine employees found the bodies of three miners at
the front of the blast area, and given the size of the explosion and
its force, "the outlook is very bad."
"The
truth is that it does not allow us to hold out much hope," said Lozano,
who was at the mine located in San Juan de Sabinas, Coahuila state,
about 85 miles (135 kilometers) southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas.
He
noted the blast was so strong that it severely wounded a 15-year-old
boy who had been working on a conveyor belt outside the mine pit
separating coal from tailings.
The boy was
taken to a hospital in serious condition, said Jesus Espinoza, a
spokesman for mining company BIMSA. Federal prosecutors later said both
the boy's arms had been amputated and that he remained in serious
condition.
Lozano said the boy's employment at the mine was an apparent violation of labor laws.
The
announcement of the three deaths came just after Mexico said it was
calling in mine rescue experts from Chile to help in the effort.
President Felipe Calderon called on Mexicans "to pray that they are still alive."
Lozano
said five mine employees who had been lowered into the mine tunnel were
able to operate safely, and that the gas appeared to have dissipated.
A
wailing cry went up from about 80 relatives and friends of the trapped
miners gathered at the site when a truck from the local morgue showed
up at the mine.
"No, Lord, I don't want this to happen," said one woman, as relatives clutched one another and wept.
The mine had opened just over a month ago, and employed a total of about 25 miners.
The 14 miners had gone down the 197-feet (60-meter) deep shaft when the explosion happened early Tuesday.
The
national mine workers' union said in a statement that the mine's work
force was not unionized, and it criticized what it called "the totally
unsafe conditions in which coal mines in Mexico, and especially in this
region known as the coal belt, operate."
Officials said they were investigating who was actually operating the mine, because there was conflicting registry data.
And
the federal Attorney General's Office said it had opened an
investigation in to the blast, which it said was caused by a gas
buildup.
A similar blast caused by methane gas
killed 65 miners in February 2006 at the Pasta de Conchos coal mine in
San Juan de Sabinas, near where Tuesday's explosion occurred.
Rescuers
eventually recovered the bodies of two miners from the 2006 blast but
tons of wood, rock and metal, as well as toxic gas, prevented the
recovery of the others.
Still smarting from criticism about the government's failings
in mine safety, and their inability to recover the bodies from the 2006
blast, federal officials promised aid to the trapped miners' families
and all necessary assistance in the rescue effort. AP
