As a result, the miners are not only buried alive, but also face drowning as water from the inactive mine rushes into their mine.

The accident apparently happened about 1 p.m. local time. when the miners inadvertently struck the wall of the adjoining mine, leading to its collapse, state authorities.

In the late afternoon, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, upon hearing of the accident, ordered rescue workers to toil round-the-clock pumping out the water and locating the miners.

The coal mines of Coahuila have suffered numerous accidents in the past, including a 2006 methane gas explosion that resulted in the death of 65 miners, most of whose bodies were never recovered.