A miner in Mexico was saved in an “astonishing rescue” after spending nearly two weeks trapped underground, officials said.
A dam breach caused by a structural failure flooded the El Rosario mine in the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa on March 25, trapping Francisco Zapata Nájera and three co-workers. Zapata Nájera was located on Tuesday by divers, but the rescue teams were unable to reach him through heavily flooded areas until 21 hours later.
“The exceptional members of the Mexican Army’s Emergency Response Battalion, along with the faith and resilience of a miner, made this astonishing rescue possible after 13 days,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on X. “I’m certain that all Mexicans, every one of us, hold you in our hearts.”
Of the 25 miners present during the accident, 21 escaped immediately. Five days later, rescuers pulled one survivor from a depth of 985 feet.
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Sheinbaum confirmed that another miner has been found dead and one more is still missing.
In a video released Wednesday, clapping could be heard from a crowd that gathered as Zapata Nájera was removed from the mine, seeing daylight for the first time this month.
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His condition was stabilized and he was sent in a Mexican Air Force helicopter to a hospital in Mazatlán, where he will be treated by specialists, officials said.
Mexico’s deadliest mining accident took place in February 2006 at the Pasta de Conchos mine in Coahuila, where an explosion killed 65 workers.
In August 2022, 10 miners died when the El Pinabete coal mine in Coahuila flooded.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
