After a harrowing two-week ordeal, a Mexican miner has been dramatically rescued from a flooded tunnel 300 meters below ground, thanks to a simple blinking torch signal that guided rescuers to his location.
Francisco Zapata Nájera, 42, was trapped when a tailings dam collapsed at a gold mine in Sinaloa, northern Mexico, on March 25. The disaster initially trapped four miners among 25 workers present, with 21 managing to escape immediately.
"I didn't lose faith, I didn't lose faith," Zapata told his rescuers when they finally reached him.
The breakthrough came after more than 300 hours of searching when specialized military divers spotted the intermittent blinking of Zapata's torch light—a deliberate signal he had maintained to alert rescuers to his position.
"Your torchlight helped us a lot," one diver told him upon reaching the waist-deep water where Zapata had been stranded. "It guided us."
Despite the initial contact, extraction proved challenging due to severe flooding in the access tunnels. Rescuers left Zapata with emergency supplies—water, tuna, and energy bars—while they worked for another 20 hours to pump water from the flooded passages.
Finally emerging on Wednesday wrapped in a thermal blanket, Zapata was transported by helicopter to a hospital where he was reunited with his family. Medical staff reported him frail but stable, requiring ongoing treatment.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum praised both the military rescue teams and Zapata's remarkable resilience, calling the operation an "astounding rescue."
The search continues for one remaining miner still missing from the initial collapse.