Hopes fade for trapped Boyaca miners

[Judi Lynn]

Hopes fade for trapped Boyaca miners
Friday, 15 October 2010 15:20 Christina Filipovic

The fate of two miners trapped in La Esperanza coal mine in north-eastern Colombia remains uncertain, as rescuers are unable to locate the men.

A group of 60 rescuers, divided into groups of six, are working on the construction of a tunnel parallel to where they think the two miners, Alfonso Barrera Peña y John Freddy Ordoñez, may be located, according to Caracol Radio.

Family, friends, and colleagues of the two men are involved in the operation, and are calling for more help from relief agencies.

The community remains hopeful that at least one of the miners is still alive, but because the two miners are without food and air, the possibility of finding them alive gets lower by the hour.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/12410-hopes-fade-for-trapped-boyaca-miners.html

[Peace Patriot]

1. So sorry to hear this after the magnificent rescue in Chile! Let's hope and pray

that these Colombian miners get lucky.

Do you know what the time-frame is? How long have they been buried?

I wonder how anybody knows that they don't have air. They can live without food for quite some time if they have water.

Hoping and praying!

:grouphug:

[Judi Lynn]

2. Just found an article saying they were trapped on Wednesday & one on Tuesday:

Explosion in Boyaca mine hamper rescue efforts .
Thursday, 14 October 2010 11:09 Manuela Kuehr

A futher explosion on Thursday slowed the operation to rescue two miners trapped miners 180 feet below the surface in the La Esperanza mine, north-east Colombia.

The two men, Hernan Alfonso Barrera Pena and John Freddy Ordonez Trivino, were trapped on Wednesday when part of a tunnel collapsed, according to Caracol Radio.

Mining engineers are developing a parallel tunnel system to reach the sector where the workers might be, with efforts progressing slowly.

"We are working with a team of mining engineers 24 hours at the La Esperanza mine," said Corone Luis Fernando Pineros, director of Sogamoso Civil Defense.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/12380-new-mine-explosions-boyaca-rescue-efforts.html

~~~~~
Google translation from Europapress:

Chile offers help to Colombia to rescue two miners
BOGOTA, 15 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The head of the rescue team on Thursday rescued the 33 miners trapped for 70 days in northern Chile, André Sougarret, on Friday offered aid to the Colombian colleagues working on the release of two miners trapped since Tuesday in a mine in the department of Boyacá (center).

"If we ask for cooperation, we are willing to help," said Sougarret, when questioned about the accident at the site of La Esperanza, in the town of Tasco, who has been caught at 60 meters depth to two of its workers.

Rescuers are currently working in the construction of a tunnel parallel to the tube that miners often enter into the operation, in order to locate and John Fredy Barrera Alfonso Ordóñez, missing for 67 hours.

"We continue to move in a new way in which it originally dug and we do not find an area where there is loose material, so to avoid accidents and decided to dig another area much safer," said Mauricio Arrows, coordinator Ingeominas in Boyacá. "We hope they have managed to pack in an area not affected by the collapse and we also have a hunch that have been saved, so we're working 24 hours a day without stopping for a minute to rescue them," said Arrows quoted by the newspaper 'El Tiempo'.

http://www.europapress.es/internacional/noticia-chile-ofrece-ayuda-colombia-rescatar-dos-mineros-20101015234116.html

[Judi Lynn]

3. Search for Colombian miners suspended

Search for Colombian miners suspended
October 17, 2010 - 6:14AM
AFP

Authorities have suspended a search for two miners trapped for four days in a coal mine in central Colombia, and have reported the deaths of two other miners in separate accidents.

The deaths highlighted the dangers that miners face daily despite last week's spectacular rescue of 33 trapped miners in Chile.

The coal miners have been trapped about 60 metres underground since Tuesday after a cave-in at the La Esperanza mine near the town of Tasco in the province of Boyaca, 200km northeast of Bogota.

Advertisement: Story continues below "We decided to suspend the rescue because while we were digging a third tunnel that we hoped would reach the miners, we detected a strong accumulation of gas," Hugo Bohorquez, the local civil defence chief, said on Saturday.

More:
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/search-for-colombian-miners-suspended-20101017-16ol6.html