A miner in Mexico was rescued in an “amazing rescue” after being trapped underground for nearly two weeks, officials said.
A dam breach caused by a structural fault flooded the El Rosario mine in the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa on March 25, trapping Francisco Zapata Nájera and three colleagues. Zapata Nájera was located by divers on Tuesday, but rescue teams were only able to reach him 21 hours later through heavily flooded areas.
“The exceptional members of the Emergency Response Battalion of the Mexican Army, together with the faith and resilience of a miner, made this astonishing rescue possible after thirteen days,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on X. “I am sure that all Mexicans, all of us, carry you in our hearts.”
Of the 25 miners present at the accident, 21 escaped immediately. Five days later, rescuers retrieved one survivor from a depth of 300 meters.
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Rescue teams transport miner Francisco Zapata Najera after rescuing him during a search for four miners following a mine collapse in El Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico, on April 8, 2026. (Stringer/Reuters)
Sheinbaum confirmed that another miner was found dead and one remains missing.
In a video released on Wednesday, clapping could be heard from a crowd that gathered as Zapata Nájera was removed from the mine and saw daylight for the first time this month.
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Rescue teams carry miner Francisco Zapata Najera on a stretcher after his rescue on April 8, 2026. (Stringer/Reuters)
His condition was stabilized and he was sent in a Mexican Air Force helicopter to a hospital in Mazatlán, where he will be treated by specialists, officials said.
The deadliest mining accident in Mexico occurred in February 2006 at the Pasta de Conchos mine in Coahuila, when an explosion killed 65 workers.
Rescue teams leave the El Rosario mine on Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (Stringer/Reuters)
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In August 2022, ten miners were killed when the El Pinabete coal mine in Coahuila was flooded.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
