RESCUERS battled yesterday to free around nine workers believed to be trapped in a coal mine in northern Mexico, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.

Military personnel and rescue dogs were deployed to the site of the accident in the state of Coahuila, Lopez Obrador said.

“A coal mine collapsed in the municipality of Sabinas, Coahuila, which caused a tunnel to flood and apparently trapped nine miners,” he tweeted.

“We hope to find them safe,” he added.

Anxious relatives gathered at the mine waiting for news, some crying, television images showed.

Coahuila, the country’s main coal-producing region, has seen a series of fatal mining accidents over the years.

The worst was an explosion that claimed 65 lives at the Pasta de Conchos mine in 2006.

Last year seven miners died after they were trapped in another accident in Coahuila. - AFP, August 4, 2022.