"We're desperate. We don't know what to do. We can't accept this." So said one of the relatives of the 10 miners who have been trapped in a flooded coal mine in Mexico since Aug. 3 upon hearing the news that it could between 6 and 11 months to reach the workers. The AFP points out the revelation essentially puts an end to any hope that the miners could be returned to their families alive; there have been no signs of life from them. There were originally 15 miners in the 200-foot-deep El Pinabete mine in Sabinas, Coahuila. It's thought the miners inadvertently breached a wall into another flooded mine. Five miners were able to make it out with injuries.
The AP reports that after authorities spent a week pumping out water to try to bring down the levels, rescue divers attempted to reach the miners but were quickly stymied by "debris-filled shafts and poor visibility." "They found they didn’t have space to advance," said Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval. "With the lights they carry they don’t have the visibility they need to identify what they find." The AFP reports that after water levels went up, the approach was reconsidered.
The BBC reports the government has not yet announced the timeline revealed by the families, and Reuters adds Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday that no announcement would be made until the plan was shared with miners' relatives. Those relatives tell Reuters they rejected the plan as presented. "It's almost a year. It's not possible. There must be other ways," another relative said. (More trapped miners stories.)
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