Ecuadoran rescuers yesterday drilled through a mountain in an attempt to reach four men trapped after a mine collapse, just two days after the dramatic rescue of 33 miners in Chile.
The Ecuadoran miners became trapped in the early hours of Friday morning, after the collapse blocked their exit from the mine, leaving the four men stuck some 150 metres below ground in the Casa Negra mine.
Officials announced the men were trapped shortly after Chile completed its historic, successful rescue of 33 miners who had been stuck underground in the San Jose mine for a record period of nearly 10 weeks.
In Ecuador yesterday, rescuers were attempting to break through the wall of fallen rock blocking the way out of the mine.
But emergency workers and officials acknowledged they had not been able to make contact with the men and were unable to confirm whether any or all of them were alive or had been injured in the accident.
“Up until now, we have had no communication whatsoever,” deputy mining minister Jorge Espinosa told AFP. Authorities have named the men as group leader Walter Vera, his brother Angel Vera, Pedro Mendoza, and Paul Aguirre.
Espinosa stressed that “the rescue work is continuing as planned and we are very close to reaching” the area where the miners are thought to be trapped. Officials “have great hope that the miners are alive”, he added.
“We think that there is sufficient space for them to survive.”
The local civil defence office was more circumspect in its assessment of the situation.
“The mine does not contain any internal communications system and so we cannot confirm if they are alive,” said local coordinator Marco Reinoso.
Reinoso told AFP that rescue workers were proceeding on two fronts – one to get oxygen to the trapped men, and the other to tunnel an escape route for the four miners.
On the second front, “we got through five metres and we have three more to go” to reach the men through the rocks and earth that have blocked their exit, said Fabian Garces, an engineer with Minesadco, the Ecuadoran company that owns the mine.
The men are trapped at the fifth level of the mine, and are believed to be in a gallery about 60 metres wide and two metres high.
The gold and silver mine employs around 100 people.