Mexican army divers have rescued a miner who survived nearly two weeks trapped deep underground in a flooded tunnel at a gold mine in northern Mexico.
Francisco Zapata Nájera, 42, was discovered about 300 meters below the surface after an embankment collapsed at the mine in Sinaloa state. The collapse occurred when a tailings dam, a structure used to contain mining waste, burst on March 25 and flooded parts of the underground tunnels.
Twenty-five workers were inside the mine at the time of the accident. Twenty-one managed to escape, but four miners became trapped underground.
Rescuers first located Zapata after more than 300 hours of searching when military divers noticed a blinking light coming from his torch. Zapata had been switching the light on and off to signal for help.
Video footage of the moment shows the divers reaching the exhausted miner as he stood in waist-deep water inside the tunnel.
“How are you, how are you?” the rescuers asked as they approached him. After identifying themselves as specialized military divers, they told him that the blinking torch had helped guide them directly to his location.
“I didn’t lose faith, I didn’t lose faith,” Zapata replied.
Despite finding him alive, rescuers were unable to immediately bring him to the surface because the tunnel leading to his position was heavily flooded. Instead, they provided him with water, cans of tuna and energy bars while teams worked to pump water out of the mine.
After roughly 20 more hours of pumping operations to lower the water level, the divers were finally able to extract him.
Wrapped in a thermal blanket and transported on an electric cart, Zapata was brought to the surface on Wednesday before being flown by helicopter to a hospital.
Doctors said he was frail but in stable condition and would receive further medical care. He was later able to reunite with his family.
The rescue came after another trapped miner, José Alejandro Cástulo, had been saved five days after the collapse. A third miner died in the accident, while search operations are still ongoing for a fourth worker who remains missing.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum praised the rescue effort and Zapata’s determination, calling the operation an “astounding rescue” made possible by the efforts of the Mexican army and the miner’s resilience.
