Strikers close mines as Mexico marks killer blast
Source: Reuters
(Updates with Grupo Mexico comment, paragraph 8) By Robin Emmott PASTA DE CONCHOS, Mexico, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Black-clad Mexican widows marched through the desert on Monday demanding the bodies of more than 60 victims of a coal pit blast a year ago and strikers paralyzed the mining industry in solidarity. Only two bodies have been recovered since a gas explosion ripped through the Pasta de Conchos coal mine near the Texas border on Feb. 19, 2006, killing 65 men. Relatives are angry at not being able to bury their dead and the lack of legal action against Grupo Mexico, Mexico's largest mining company and the owner of Pasta de Conchos. A group of some 150 widows, relatives and miners marched to the mine along a desert road, dressed in mourning clothes and singing hymns to a lone drummer's beat. Crying and shouting, they scuffled with security guards manning the entrance. "A mother never tires of waiting, we want to see the bodies," said Yolanda Ramos, holding up a photograph of her dead son Mario Alberto, 26, at the front of the group. Buried by thousands of tonnes of rock, many of the bodies may have been incinerated by temperatures soaring to 1,100 degrees F (593 C). "Grupo Mexico, enough lies. Where are our loved ones?" read a banner pinned on a wall near the mine. The company said in a statement it would start work next week to empty gas from the part of the mine where the dead are located so rescuers can get in. Thousands of unionized workers shut down most of the country's mines and metal plants in a one-day national strike in memory of the dead, hoping to pressure the government to punish Grupo Mexico, said the country's miners' union. The union said 90 percent of unionized operations were closed, including one of the world's biggest silver mines, owned by mining company Penoles, as well as gold mines and steel and copper plants. SAFETY LAPSES Jorge Rios, Coahuila state's special prosecutor, blamed Grupo Mexico for allowing a deadly mix of methane, dust and oxygen to build up in the mine. "We are talking about a very rudimentary mine with huge lapses in safety standards made worse by corrupt inspectors who didn't enforce the necessary security," he said. Rios said he would urge judges to arrest five Grupo Mexico employees and six Labor Ministry officials within the next two months on manslaughter charges that carry prison sentences. Grupo Mexico, one of Latin America's biggest miners, says the blast was a tragic accident. It has compensated victims' families and spent $30 million on trying to find the 63 remaining miners. "The company met safety norms, but doing so can never be an exact science," said a source close to Grupo Mexico who requested anonymity. "The company is more eager than anyone to know what really happened." Coal mining in Coahuila, the country's only state to contain the fossil fuel, is largely unregulated. The state is dotted with some 130 informal coal mines, where accidents are common. Coahuila is roughly the size of the U.S. state of Michigan and has only three active government inspectors to enforce safety standards, Mexico's mine union says. "Mexico needs minimum coal safety standards. We can't go on like this, especially when coal demand is growing," said Jose Angel Hernandez, a miners' union leader. (Additional reporting by Frank Jack Daniel in Mexico City)
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