Grupo Mexico may be charged for coal mine disaster
Source: Reuters
MEXICO CITY, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The Mexican border state of Coahuila said it will request arrest warrants against people it considers responsible for a coal mine explosion that killed 65 men last year. State prosecutor Jorge Torres on Tuesday accused Grupo Mexico <GMEXICOB.MX>, owner of the Pasta de Conchos coal mine, and Mexico's Labor Ministry of "deep and offensive negligence," and said the tragedy could have been avoided. Torres says he has documentation and testimony from workers to show the mine was unsafe, with insufficient ventilation. He told Mexican radio he was waiting for the results of an investigation from the Labor Ministry before asking a judge for a series of arrest warrants. He declined to say whether his investigation implicated top officials like Grupo Mexico <GMEXICOB.MX> owner German Larrea or former Labor Minister Francisco Salazar. The blast last February may have sent temperatures soaring above 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit (600 degrees Celsius) and filled mine shafts and tunnels with poisonous gases and fallen rock. Six days after the explosion, Grupo Mexico said there was no chance of survival for the trapped men. Only two bodies have since been recovered, as rescue workers have struggled to negotiate collapsed tunnels. Grupo Mexico, one of Latin America's biggest mining groups, says it has spent millions of dollars trying to reach the men. Grupo Mexico's head of international relations, Juan Rebolledo, said the company would not react to Torres' declarations until arrest warrants or indictments were issued. Rebolledo said prosecutors could not know the cause of the explosion because rescue workers had not yet arrived at the bottom of the mine. "Until then it is very difficult to know what happened," he said.
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
