Clock Ticking as Rescuers Try to Reach Miners

SAN JUAN DE SABINAS, Mexico —  Rescue workers digging with picks and shovels raced Monday to reach 65 miners trapped in a coal mine just outside this city in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila.

Officials at the Pasta de los Conchos mine said they still hoped to find survivors of the mine collapse caused by an explosion early Sunday. A ventilation system reaching 600 feet into the mine was still working, they said.

It remained unclear whether the system, which draws out methane gas and carbon monoxide while pumping in fresh air, reaches the shafts where the miners are trapped. Telephone lines to the mine shafts were cut in the explosion, and no one has heard from the workers since 2:30 a.m. Sunday.

“We’re moving forward,” said Jorge Luis Montelongo, a 31-year-old miner and volunteer rescuer. Like the other rescuers, he emerged from the mine with soot covering his face, hard hat and knee-high rubber boots. “Si, se puede,” he added. It can be done.

More than 200 friends and relatives of the trapped workers gathered outside the mine, which is on a dusty plain. The relatives built a shrine to the Virgin Mary at the mine’s front gate, while a public address system blared out a series of prayers.

“God help us and all the families here waiting,” a voice leading the prayers said. “But mostly all our prayers go to the rescue crews and the trapped men.”

Mining disasters are a tragic fact of life in Coahuila state, which borders Texas along the Rio Grande. Over the last century, 900 people have been killed in mining accidents in the state.

Many of the accidents have been caused by the presence of firedamp, a volatile mixture of methane and other gases that occurs naturally in coal deposits. Officials suspect firedamp may have been the culprit at the Pasta de los Conchos mine. Rescue workers have avoided using power tools in order not to spark another explosion.

About 80 miners were originally trapped inside, and 15 of them were rescued near the mine entrance moments after the explosion.

Juan Jose Galvan, 33, was one of those rescued. He told his wife, Ernestina Hiran Ruiz, that the explosion knocked him unconscious. One moment he was working in the mine shaft; the next, he awoke at a hospital, calling out the names of several co-workers who remain trapped.

The miners earn about $50 to $100 a week, she said.

“It’s the best job and it’s also the hardest one,” said Rafaela Castaneda, whose husband, Agustin Botello, was among the trapped miners. “My husband has worked in the mines since he was 18. Thanks to God he never had an accident. Now he’s in God’s hands.”

Luis Chavez, director of energy and mines for Coahuila state, said Mexican mines generally have a higher proportion of gases because Pemex, the national oil and gas monopoly, has shown little interest in the extraction of natural gas in mining areas.

Mine superintendent Ruben Escudero said monitors in the mine did not register a high level of gases prior to the explosion. “I’m not sure what caused this,” he said.

As of Monday afternoon, after more than 36 hours of digging, rescue workers had cleared about 1,312 feet of rubble and were about 325 feet from the spot where officials expected to find two trapped miners.

Most of the workers, however, are much deeper in the mine, behind as much as a mile of rubble. Canisters that provide a six-hour emergency oxygen supply are scattered throughout the tunnels, officials said, and workers also carry a small amount of oxygen as part of their basic equipment. That supply would have run out within hours.

The rescue work went slowly Monday because officials feared triggering a new collapse. Some officials said reaching the trapped miners could take as long as a week.

Most of the rescuers are workers at the mine, such as 21-year-old Adolfo Aguila. Aguila said he worked the same swing shift as the trapped crew, but missed Sunday’s accident because it was his day off.

“My friends are down there and I want to help them,” he said.

The Mexican newspaper Universal reported on its website Monday that a U.S. team trained in mine rescues was en route to the scene.

Sergio Robles, director of civil protection for Coahuila state, addressed the anxious relatives Monday afternoon. He said rescuers were using one mining tunnel that remained intact to reach the trapped miners in two collapsed tunnels.

As Robles spoke, a younger woman in the crowd began screaming loudly.

“Don’t say that, don’t say that!” she said as an older woman tried to comfort her.

Another relative, Leticia Castillo, grabbed the microphone from Robles and angrily addressed the officials present.

“We’ve been waiting since yesterday,” said Castillo, whose brother and brother-in-law were among the trapped men. “We need a response, that’s what we need. There are people down there.”

Enriquez reported from San Juan de Sabinas and Tobar from Mexico City. Carlos Martinez and Cecilia Sanchez in The Times’ Mexico City Bureau contributed to this report.