Related: Mine collapse traps at least 66 miners in Mexico

    MEXICO CITY, Feb. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Some 200 rescuers are working to free the 65 miners that remain trapped in a mine in northern Mexico on Sunday, in tense atmosphere as family members are trying to force their way to mine premises, civil defense officials told Xinhua.

    The rescuers have already dug 350 meters into the Conchos mine, which collapsed at 4.00 a.m. local time on Sunday morning, said Enrique Luna, from Civil Defense Services of San Juan de Sabinas, the municipality closest to the mine.

    Luna said he did not yet know the cause of the mine collapse, although earlier media reports said it was caused by a gas explosion. The exact number of miners trapped underground and exactly how deep they are buried also remain in question, he said.

    The mine's deepest point is 2,000 meters below the surface.

    San Juan de Sabinas, better known as Nueva Rosita, is in Coahuila state, northern Mexico, 120 km south of the U.S. border and 900 km north of the capital Mexico City.

    As well as digging for the miners, the police are also holding back the mine workers' families, who are trying to get onto mine premises, Luna told Xinhua by telephone. The families are aggressive, weeping and desperate, he said.

    He said that rescue efforts would continue but prospects are not very encouraging. Some 15 miners had been rescued, eight of them unharmed and others in hospital for treatment on burns and fractures.

    Around 4,000 people have died in mine accidents in Coahuila, the Mexican coal-mining area. Enditem