President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO)arrived this afternoon on Sunday, August 7, at Sabinas, Coahuila, aboard a military aircraft for the purpose of personally supervising the rescue of the 10 miners who were trapped in a coal pit after its collapse, since last August 3.
López Obrador entered the rear of the mine to meet with the rescuers and closest relatives to verify the progress of the rescue.
“I am going there (Coahuila). I’m going to see how the rescue is (…) I’m going to see how the situation is,” he commented this Sunday on his way out of the press conference in Colima, from where he flew to the border state.
It should be remembered that his arrival in the area known as shellswhere the collapse was reported, was anticipated hours before when, in front of some reporters, it also revealed that “a lot of water continues to be pumped” in the wells, despite the efforts of the DN-III-E plan to remove the water mirror that prohibits the entry of support brigades.
In that tenor, the Tabascan pointed out that they have detected water depths of up to 40 meters that one of the abandoned mines continues to irrigate in the area where the miners worked before the tragedy. However, he said he was confident that the operations of the Federal will support to reduce the levels.
“We are going to remain hopeful, trusting that they are safe.”
AMLO affirmed that the owner of the mine is already fully aware: “everything is known”, declared; although, it should be noted, the Chief Executive had requested in recent days prioritize the rescue of victims, before looking for culprits.
Four days have passed since the ten miners have been held incommunicado and in a tunnel of 60 meters underground – easily surrounded by 34 meters of water. The lack of oxygen and the uncertainty have made the rescue a time trial issue.
Amidst the intrigue for the slow advance to reduce the water mirror and the unknown to know if the divers or brigades could enter the wells, the Government of Coahuila confirmed register so significant the reduction of water levels “thanks to the placement of pumping equipment with greater capacity”.
“Along with the extraction work (…) one more bomb was installed inside of a hole that was drilled and is currently working for the conditioning of another and the exploration for the realization of two more holes”, he communicated in a document.
In addition to this, the administration of Miguel Ángel Riquelme made it known that there are no obstacles to subsequent maneuvers of rescue work.
“The image study was completed using the submersible cameras in the 3 wells that began yesterday afternoon, which showed there are no obstacles for subsequent maneuvers.
It was at 1:35 p.m. that a landslide was reported inside a coal pitlocated in the area known as shells Of the municipality of Sabines, very close to the US border causing the flood that left the miners trapped and surrounded by tunnels filled with up to 34 meters of water.
It is important to point out that the structure of said mine is made up of three shafts, of which one was obsolete (well 1); this being where the workers carried out their excavation activities with manual tools.
Thus, while the miners were carrying out their activities, they ran into a adjoining area filled with water – belonging to the connection between well 1 and 2 -, which ended up collapsing and flooding the entire system.
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