Rescuers dig against odds for buried Mexico miners

A miner waits for news from rescuers trying to reach trapped miners in San Juan de Sabinas, northern Mexico. Picture / Reuters

SAN JUAN DE SABINAS, Mexico - Relatives held bonfire vigils in the bitterly cold night on Tuesday as rescuers fought against rising odds to save 65 Mexican miners trapped in underground chambers since a gas blast on Sunday.

Bundled in pullovers and blankets, 30-year-old Maria Teresa Rodriguez sat pressed against a gate guarding the coal mine, her position unchanged since Sunday morning as she stared emptily at the mine head awaiting news of her missing husband.

"I'm staying here until my husband comes out," she said, clutching a steaming cup of coffee handed out by a volunteer as she began a second night without sleep.

"There is always danger in the mines, all the wives know that. But I have faith in the rescuers and I believe they will pull somebody out soon."

Rumours swirled that rescuers had heard knocking in the Pasta de Conchos coal mine in the northern state of Coahuila, owned by Grupo Mexico.

But two days after the miners were trapped underground, there were still no signs of life and rescuers were a long way from the chambers where they were buried.

A rescue team got within 55m of where two men had been working on a conveyor belt when Sunday's gas explosion occurred, but poor ventilation and the risk of rock falls hampered efforts to save them. Rescuers were using only hand tools for fear power equipment might spark another blast.

The rest of the men were thought to be in groups up to 2 km into the mine, near the town of San Juan de Sabinas, 100 km southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas.

Mine official Ruben Escudero told reporters that digging teams were working rotating six-hour shifts and that a group of specialist rescuers were on their way from the United States.

But he said they had yet to widen an air ventilation shaft enough to send rescuers and their equipment into the collapsed chambers where the bulk of the miners were trapped and that there was a high risk more of the mine would give way.

"We haven't advanced as quickly as we wanted to," he said.

Wailing loudly, the wives of two missing miners cornered Escudero, begging him for news of their husbands.

"I can't say there are no survivors," he told them.

The miners' oxygen tanks have almost certainly run out, but mine operators said air pockets might still keep them alive.

Volunteers gave out hot broth to dozens of relatives who huddled around bonfires in the freezing desert night, some singing together as a lone guitarist strummed Christian songs.

Miners at Pasta de Conchos earn around 600 pesos (NZ$86) a week. The arid region around the mine is poor and dotted with small shacks.

Grupo Mexico denied workers' claims the company had been negligent about safety.

National Mineworkers' Union leader Napoleon Gomez said the union would investigate who was to blame as soon as the miners were safely back at the surface.

Asked whether the missing miners could still be alive he said: "The more time that passes, the less chance there is."

- REUTERS