Mexican officials say three more bodies have been recovered from a mine where an explosion occurred this week, bringing the death toll to nine.
Volunteers are assisting with excavations at the mine in the northern state of Coahuila and searching for the remaining five miners presumed dead following Tuesday’s blast.
Mexican Labor Minister Javier Lozano posted a Twitter message Tuesday saying there was “no hope of life” for the miners.
Authorities say a methane gas buildup caused the explosion, which was powerful enough to severely injure a teenage boy working outside the mine.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has ordered the attorney general’s office to investigate the blast.
The mine went into operation last month. Local news reports have said the facility belongs to the mining company BINSA.
In 2006, an explosion at another mine in Coahuila left 65 miners dead. The bodies of most of those victims were never recovered.
