Mexican bishops offer prayers for trapped miners

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 5, 2022 / 13:48 pm (CNA).

The Mexican Bishops’ Conference assured the “prayers and solace” of the Catholic Church for the families of miners trapped in coal mines Aug. 3, praying they “may return safe and sound to their homes.” The bishops also entrusted the miners to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In an Aug. 4 statement, the Mexican bishops said they lament “the accident that occurred yesterday in the coal mines in Sabinas, Coahuila state, where 10 miners are still trapped.”

“As a Church we offer our prayers and solace to the families of the miners,” they said.

The National Coordination of Civil Protection of the Government of Mexico said in a statement that at 1:35 p.m. on Aug. 3, “an accident occurred in a coal mine located in the area known as ‘Conchas’ near the town of Agujita, Sabinas municipio (county), Coahuila.”

“The accident occurred when the workers, in the course of their excavation activities, breached an adjoining area full of water, which caused a flood when it collapsed, trapping a group of miners.”

Five miners managed to escape and have received medical attention. Two have already been discharged.

However, 10 miners remain trapped.

The Mexican bishops said in their statement that “we implore God to give us hope and strengthen us in these moments of anguish, that he may grant us their safe return to their homes.”

“We pray for the lives of each of the trapped miners, and we place them under the intercession of our Mother, the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe,” they said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.