Trapped Mexican miners' relatives say authorities are stalling rescue
After 11 days of not having any news of their loved ones, relatives of Mexican miners trapped inside El Pinabete mine grew increasingly upset.
Rescue works have not been advancing as fast as families were expecting, a relative of a trapped miner Enereida Toledo told Reuters on Sunday. Toledo added that authorities have avoided giving relatives concrete answers on the status of the rescue works.
The ten miners became trapped inside the Pinabete mine in the town of Sabinas in the North-western state of Coahuila on August 3, when their excavation work caused a tunnel wall to collapse, triggering flooding in three wells.
Miner Gabriel Rodriguez Palomares who is assisting with rescue efforts said they needed more help and for authorities to allow experts to descend into the mine.
Over the last week, authorities and rescue teams have been pumping water out of the mine in order to allow rescuers to enter the chambers, but Coahuila state government said in a tweet on Sunday that water levels had risen. They added that engineers and experts were working to find out the source of the rise and to develop a new water abstraction strategy.