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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | March 2006 
Recovery of Bodies from Site of Coal Mine Explosion Could Take Months
 Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
| | Miners helping in the rescue efforts are seen at the site of the mine after a gas buildup in a coal mine triggered a pre-dawn explosion on Feb. 20, 2006 in the town of San Juan de Sabinas, Mexico. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) |
Mexico City It may take months to recover the bodies of 65 miners trapped in a Feb. 19 explosion at a northern Mexico coal mine, but authorities are committed to digging the bodies out, presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar said Monday.
Public attention toward the disaster at the mine near San Juan Sabinas, just south of the Texas border, has been diverted in recent days by a scandal in the miners' union, whose top leader was nominally replaced and is being investigated for possible mismanagement of a US$55 million (euro45.8 million) fund.
But Aguilar said the government hasn't forgotten about the recovery efforts, and said there is a categorical commitment to get to the point where the explosion occurred and recover the bodies.
The studies indicate that it could take several weeks and perhaps even months to get into the area where the explosion occurred, because of the damage caused by the explosion, Aguilar said.
The explosion, apparently caused by a buildup of methane gas, sparked massive cave-ins and a burst of extremely high temperatures in the mine, provoking concerns about what conditions the remains might be found in.
Authorities and the mine's owners concentrated on pumping out dangerous gases before sending rescue crews back into the mine.
A team of 64 rescue workers, many of them miners themselves, re-entered the Pasta de Conchos coal mine on Friday to resume recovery efforts after a nearly weeklong hiatus, but are still far from the area where most of the trapped miners were working.
On Sunday, about 200 relatives marched about 15 miles (25 kilometers) to the mine from the town of Nueva Rosita to demand the miners' bodies be recovered.
Carrying signs that read We want our loved ones now! and We want justice, the families stormed into the mine offices, where one of the protesters broke a glass window and shouted that she wanted to see those responsible for the explosion, Mexican news media reported.
But the rescue effort has been overshadowed by a dispute within the 250,000-member National Mining and Metal Workers Union. The conflict sparked a one-day walkout last week that negatively affected refineries, smelters and mines nationwide.
The strike was an attempt by supporters of ousted union leader Napoleon Gomez Urrutia to demand that the government drop its recognition of dissident Elias Morales as the new union leader.
Aguilar has said that federal authorities are investigating Urrutia for corruption.
The mine leader, who also has been criticized for doing little to help the families of the victims of the dead miners has largely dropped out of sight, but has denied the allegations that he stole money from a fund set up to compensate miners for the privatization of a mine.
Urrutia appeared to get some support from other mainline union groups, which accused the government of meddling in internal union affairs.
Aguilar hotly denied that, saying that what there is, is evidence of extreme corruption, corruption of the worst sort, on the part of this leader. |
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