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Last of 4 trapped miners found dead, ending 33-day rescue operation at Sinaloa mine

MND Staff
By MND Staff
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Twenty-four other miners were working inside the mine at the time, but four — Beltrán among them — were too deep inside to escape. Two of the trapped miners were rescued alive.
Twenty-four other miners were working inside the mine at the time, but four — Beltrán among them — were too deep inside to escape. Two of the trapped miners were rescued alive. (CNPC)

The body of the fourth and final miner trapped in a mine in the northern state of Sinaloa was located early Monday morning.

The victim, mine supervisor Leandro Isidro Beltrán, 54, was approximately 350 meters below the surface inside the Santa Fe mine when a tailings dam collapsed on March 25, flooding the mine with water and debris. 

Twenty-four other miners were working inside the mine at the time, but four — Beltrán among them — were too deep inside to escape.

A massive rescue effort, eventually involving state and federal authorities and emergency personnel — more than 300 people in all — began the following day. 

José Alejandro Cástulo was rescued days later and Francisco Zapata was brought out alive on April 8. A third miner, identified as Abraham Aguilera Aguilera, was found dead.

The discovery of Beltrán’s body comes 33 days — or 783 hours — after the accident at the mine operated by Industrial Minera Sinaloa. 

A statement from the rescue team’s Unified Command said the body was found around 2:15 a.m. local time and it was “awaiting instructions from state agents to carry out the recovery process, in accordance with the required technical and legal requirements.”

The statement said the entire operation involved 389 members of various federal and state institutions, including the Defense Ministry, the Navy Ministry, the National Coordination of Civil Protection (CNPC), the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and Sinaloa state agencies, as well as personnel from the mine itself.

Rescuers worked around the clock to clear the entrances and tunnels of mud and tailings (mining waste), while searchers and divers descended into the mine. 

The CFE installed an extraction system that pumped out 34,000 liters of water per hour, and workers reinforced the walls with plywood sheets and cement mixtures. In addition, divers, search dogs and a team using probes and cameras were working in the area to establish the minimal visibility within the brown mass and make contact with the trapped miners.

Following the announcement of the discovery of the body, the federal government and local authorities reaffirmed their commitment to providing support and assistance to the Beltrán family, under the supervision of CNPC director Laura Velázquez.

With reports from Milenio, El País, Expansión Política and Proceso

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