The rescue of miners in Lenguazaque, Cundinamarca, keeps Colombia in suspense. Antonio Salas, Wilmer Orjuela and Antonio Javier complete three days in a sinkhole. Their companions work tirelessly to get them out of hell, as the heat underground is unbearable.
They are 27 meters deep, but the most important thing is that they are alive.
“When we were downstairs working, they talked to us through the hose to get us to hit them and see if they would listen to us. We hit the line several times and they told us they were listening to us downstairs ”, miner Jorge Ballesteros said about that first contact.
The rescue operation is intense, but careful: the miners were sent water, peanuts and hydrating drinks through hoses that became their link with life and the hope of returning to their families.
Each trip of coal that leaves the sinkhole is seen as a victory, it is to snatch a few more meters from the ground to bring the miners to the surface.
“Shifts have been changed every 4 hours, this has allowed the rescuers, the miners who are entering the mine to rest and another group enters again. The progress of the debris removal has been quite representative and we hope to arrive very quickly and evacuate the three miners ”, explains Olga Janeth Ramírez, Secretary of Mines of Cundinamarca.
Although the fight against time is pressing, the authorities are optimistic and hope that the rescue will be successfully completed soon.
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