Mexican bishops urge officials to probe mine blast that killed 65

Published: 2006-02-28

MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- Mexican bishops have called on authorities to investigate why a coal mine that had just been visited by federal safety inspectors exploded and left 65 miners dead. After a Feb. 19 gas explosion at the Pasta de Conchos mine, near the town of San Juan de Sabinas in Mexico's Coahuila state, rescuers worked for a week to reach the trapped men. Then, after tests showed the air in the mine was far too poisonous for the miners to breathe, Bishop Alonso Garza Trevino of Piedras Negras joined the state governor Feb. 25 to tell the miners' families that there was no hope of finding any of the men alive. Grupo Mexico, the company that owns the mine, said that the air in the mine was about 40 percent methane, the flammable gas behind the explosion that brought down part of the mine shaft. Also, the company said the explosion probably reached the part of the mine where the men were working, about 1.5 miles down the mine shaft and about 220 yards below the surface.

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .