Rescue workers dug frantically today to reach 65 miners trapped in tunnels underground after an explosion at a Mexican coal mine.
There is little hope of finding the men alive, however.
Soldiers and civil protection workers had not yet been able to make contact with the miners and, one day after the gas explosion in a remote, semi-desert region, the workers' six-hour oxygen tanks has almost certainly run out.
Several workers who were near the mine's entrance at the time of the explosion were treated for broken bones and burns.
Soldiers stopped family members from going into the mine at San Juan de Sabinas, a town in the state of Coahuila, which borders Texas.
Rescue efforts were slowed by the presence of toxic gases, including carbon monoxide.
"There is an explosive mix of methane gas and it is very dangerous," said the head of Coahuila's civil protection agency, speaking about rescue conditions underground.
"We hold out hope but we have to be realistic. . . . With the atmosphere and the risks and with time passing, everything is running against us."