Mining Accident: 1 Rescued After 100 Hours; 3 Remain Missing

One of four miners trapped at the San Fe mine in El Rosario, Sinaloa, was rescued early on March 30 after more than 100 hours of uninterrupted emergency operations, according to the Unified Command Post. José Alejandro Cáustulo, 44, a native of Michoacán, was pulled out shortly after midnight and transferred to the General Hospital of Mazatlan for medical attention. 

Cáustulo had been buried for nearly six days at more than 350m below the surface at the gold mine operated by Industrial Minería Sinaloa. "He's fine," President Claudia Sheinbaum said, adding that it was remarkable that a worker could be rescued after a week underground. "Hopefully we can find the other three miners in good condition," she said.

Three miners remain trapped. Army units, Civil Protection teams and the Ministry of Citizen Protection continue rescue efforts by exploring the mine's access ramps, as galleries remain blocked with mud. The site has been reinforced with plywood panels to stabilize the structure, and the trapped miners have been supplied with oxygen, water and food.

The collapse occurred on March 25 at 2 p.m. local time but was not reported to municipal authorities until the following day at noon, according to the National Civil Protection Coordination. At the time of the incident, 25 miners were working at the site. Twenty-one were able to exit without injuries. The company began its own rescue operations, which were subsequently reinforced by three government response teams.

A Pattern of Mining Accidents in Mexico

The incident in Sinaloa adds to the country’s record of mining emergencies. Over the past decade, the country has recorded more than 270 mining accidents, resulting in 270 fatalities and 108 injuries, with the highest concentration of incidents occurring between 2012 and 2017.

In recent years, accident rates have declined. Companies affiliated with CAMIMEX, the Mexican Mining Chamber, reported an accident rate of 1.33, below the national average. In 2023, Mexico's Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare conducted approximately 48,000 workplace inspections nationwide, 6% of which focused on the mining, metallurgical and steel industries.

The most significant recent precedent is the August 2022 collapse at the El Pinabete mine in Sabinas, Coahuila. On Aug. 3, 2022, 15 miners were working at a depth of 60m when tunnel walls collapsed, flooding three pits at El Pinabete. Five workers managed to escape. The remaining 10 were never recovered alive. Relatives of the victims repeatedly raised complaints about lack of transparency and insufficient progress by authorities. The government cited the mine's flooding as the primary obstacle to earlier recovery efforts.

Identification and recovery of remains stretched over more than a year. In April 2024, the Prosecutor's Office conclusively identified four victims: Hugo Tijerina Amaya, Jorge Luis Martínez Valdez, Jaime Montelongo Pérez, and José Rogelio Moreno Morales. The first two sets of remains were discovered on Nov. 11, 2023, the third on Dec. 29, 2023, and the fourth on Jan. 16, 2024.

On Feb. 6, the National Civil Protection Coordination confirmed that the remains of the tenth and final missing miner had been located in the GSN6 Norte gallery. The discovery included a shoe containing skeletal remains, prompting the activation of biological findings and recovery protocols. Recovery operations continued in that gallery and in vertical shaft No. 2.

The CNPC described the operation as the result of coordinated efforts among the Federal Electricity Commission, the Ministry of National Defense and the Attorney General's Office of Coahuila.