Explosion traps 66 miners in Mexico, injures 12

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico - A gas explosion Sunday at a coal mine in northern Mexico trapped 66 miners below ground and left 12 hospitalized with burns and broken bones, officials said.

The trapped miners had a limited supply of oxygen and their lives were in extreme danger, said Ruben Escudero Chavez, director of the Grupo Industrial Minera Mexico, a private company which owns the pit.

The explosion occurred before dawn at the mine near the town of Sabinas, 85 miles southwest of Eagle Pass on the Mexico-U.S. border, Escudero said.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10627198/

We kill people every time we turn on the lights.

When will be change to energy that does not; Wind, Solar, Hydroelectric, and Geothermal, backed up by modern fail-safe Nuclear plants?

The entire industry needs to review its safety measures...

Feb. 20, 2006, 2:26AM
MEXICAN MINERS TRAPPED
Crews struggle to reach dozens after gas explosion

By DUDLEY ALTHAUS
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

MEXICO CITY - Rescue teams worked furiously late Sunday to reach dozens of Mexican coal miners trapped deep underground by a gas explosion.

The explosion ripped through the mine at about 2 a.m. Sunday near the town of San Juan de Sabinas, about 85 miles south of the Texas border city of Eagle Pass, authorities said.

A spokesman for the company that operates the mine said the trapped men were in "extreme danger."
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Local reports, state authorities and union officials put the number of missing miners at anywhere from 65 to 70. The number of injured varied from seven to a dozen. And the location of the trapped miners was anywhere from 445 feet underground to two miles below the surface, depending on the source.
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http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3671498.html
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Workers Try to Reach Trapped Mexico Miners

Rescue Workers Desperately Trying to Free 65 Workers Trapped in Mexican Coal Mine

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ

SAN JUAN DE SABINAS, Mexico Feb 20, 2006 (AP)— Rescue workers were burrowing through debris clogging a Mexican coal mine early Monday in a desperate effort to reach some 65 miners who were trapped for more than a day by a gas explosion.

The miners were carrying only six hours of oxygen with them when the explosion occurred early Sunday, and officials said it was unclear if they had access to fresh air. Rescue teams had failed to make any contact with the trapped miners.

Several other workers who were near the mine's entrance at the time of the explosion were able to escape alive and were treated for broken bones and burns.

Rescue teams worked round-the-clock as family members waited for news, huddled near bonfires and wrapped in blankets to protect against the bitter cold outside the mine near the town of San Juan de Sabinas, 85 miles southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas.
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http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1640155&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312