Race against time to rescue trapped brothers

Rescue workers from five Mexican states worked frantically against the clock tonight to rescue two young brothers who have been trapped for four days in a deep cave.

Using heavy machinery from Mexico’s state-run oil company, they attempted to widen the mouth of the 80-foot-deep cavern through which five-year-old Pascual Saraos Jimenez and his brother Miguel, six, disappeared on Sunday night.

Directing rescue efforts, Mexican Red Cross Commander Arturo Montero said time was of the essence. Weather conditions were worsening and the children had been without food and water for four days in the cave, located in the Indian village of Jochich.

“We have faith that everything will turn out OK,” Montero said, adding that rescue workers had heard the boys speaking to each other in their native Indian Tzeltal language. “At least they are alive,” he said.

The rescue effort has been hampered by heavy rains and the cave’s narrow passages, which have prevented workers from entering to extract the children.

Officials also initially encountered resistance from machete-wielding residents of Jochich who “thought we were digging for gold, not just removing earth,” said a paramedic on the scene who did not identify himself.

Paramedics, potholers, and state police from five different states participated in the efforts to gain access to the cave’s horseshoe-shaped corridors.

“We have a sense of where they are, but because the cave opens up like a T it’s hard to know if they are on the left or right side,” Montero said. “The head of the rescue worker barely fits inside.”