After 7 Years, Mexico may Renew Search for Missing Miners' Bodies Daniel Hernandez - The Los Angeles Times
go to original February 22, 2013

Coal miners walk from the Pasta de Conchos coal mine in 2006 after working in rescue efforts for 65 miners who were trapped by an explosion in San Juan de Sabinas, Coahuila, Mexico. (Sharon Steinmann / Houston Chronicle / February 24, 2006)

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's new government is considering relaunching an abandoned rescue effort to reach the bodies of 63 miners in a coal mine in northern Mexico since 2006, one of the worst mining disasters in the country's history.

The Pasta de Conchos tragedy left 65 dead and exposed poor and dangerous working conditions for miners in one of Mexico's largest but also most under-regulated industries. Relatives of the victims have insisted in protests that the recovery operation be resumed and in recent days sought support from members of the new federal Cabinet.

A methane explosion trapped the miners on Feb. 19, 2006. The recovery effort was abandoned in April 2007 after only two bodies had been brought out.

The Pasta de Conchos disaster deepened rifts between representatives of the victims - their families and unions - and Grupo Mexico, the mining conglomerate that owns the coal mine in the municipality of San Juan Sabinas, Coahuila state.

This week, after a fresh push by relatives of the victims before the administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto, the attorney general's office indicated it was open to examining the investigation and possibly reopening the recovery effort.

Read the whole story at The Los Angeles Times

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