Remains of two miners found after collapse in Mexico more than 500 days ago

Mexico City – The Mexican Government reported this Thursday the discovery of the remains of the first two of the 10 miners who were trapped more than 500 days ago in the Pinabete coal mine, in the northern state of Coahuila.

“Yesterday two human remains were located and are in the custody of the Public Ministry. “512 days after this coal deposit was flooded, the excavation efforts safely reached the mine galleries, located 62 meters deep,” he said in a statement.

This is the first time they have recovered human remains after the accident on August 3, 2022, when the Pinabete in the municipality of Sabinas was flooded following a collapse of an adjacent abandoned mine, Conchas Norte.

After the incident, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised to recover the bodies in a few months, but last June he acknowledged that the process would take until 2024.

The Government of Mexico defended in the statement that it has maintained “the commitment to the families of the miners through concrete actions,” including compensation to the families and uninterrupted operations to search for the bodies.

“Work will continue to locate the remaining eight miners. In this way, the Government of Mexico dedicates tireless efforts to achieve the recovery of the miners and provide comprehensive support to their families,” he said.

The National Civil Protection Coordination (CNPC) stated that they have excavated and removed 2.3 million cubic meters of soil and rock, in addition to having carried out 1,167 drillings with a cumulative length of more than 47 kilometers.

“More than 11,000 hours of uninterrupted work have been invested and 128 controlled blasts (explosions) have been carried out, under the supervision of Sedena (Secretariat of National Defense),” he stated in the text.

After the accident, the families of the 10 miners denounced precarious conditions and accused the Government of acting late and slow in the rescue.

The collapse reactivated the controversy in Mexico over the actions of the mining companies in the coal region, where more than 100 deaths of people dedicated to mining have been recorded, according to the Pasta de Conchos Family, which brings together relatives of those who died in the collapse of 2006 in the mine of that name.