A miner in Mexico experienced a dramatic rescue after being trapped underground for nearly two weeks, officials reported.
A structural failure led to a dam breach, flooding the El Rosario mine in Sinaloa, northern Mexico, on March 25. This incident trapped Francisco Zapata Nájera and three colleagues. Divers discovered Zapata Nájera on Tuesday, but it took an additional 21 hours for rescue teams to navigate the heavily flooded areas and reach him.
“The remarkable efforts of the Mexican Army’s Emergency Response Battalion, combined with the faith and resilience of a miner, made this incredible rescue possible after 13 days,” stated Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on X. “I am confident that all Mexicans hold you in our hearts.”
Out of the 25 miners at the site during the incident, 21 managed to escape immediately. Five days after the accident, rescue teams saved another miner from a depth of 985 feet.
Rescue teams transport miner Francisco Zapata Nájera after rescuing him during the search for four miners following a collapse at a mine in El Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico, on April 8, 2026. (Stringer/Reuters)
Sheinbaum also confirmed that one miner was found deceased, and another remains unaccounted for.
In a video released Wednesday, clapping could be heard from a crowd that gathered as Zapata Nájera was removed from the mine, seeing daylight for the first time this month.
Rescue teams transport miner Francisco Zapata Najera on a stretcher following 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.
Mexico’s deadliest mining accident took place in February 2006 at the Pasta de Conchos mine in Coahuila, where an explosion killed 65 workers.
Rescue teams are seen leaving the El Rosario mine on Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (Stringer/Reuters)
In August 2022, 10 miners died when the El Pinabete coal mine in Coahuila flooded.
