To avoid additional explosions, rescuers refrained from using electric or gas-powered machinery and instead used tools such as picks and shovels.

[2][3] Five days later, Grupo México suspended rescue operations and declared that the miners had allegedly died, stating that "there was no possibility of survival after the methane explosion".

According to a study by the non-governmental organization Poder, Grupo México submitted three technical documents with irregularities requesting authorities to suspend the rescue operation.

[5] On the afternoon of 18 February 2018, on the eve of the twelfth anniversary, relatives of the deceased miners protested in Mexico City.

However, in this demonstration, about 200 people, including four priests, marched toward the Angel of Independence column and stopped at the Glorieta de la Palma traffic circle, the location of the Mexican Stock Exchange Building.

There, they listed the names of the miners, plus Félix Schleevoigth, who worked for Grupo México and died in a similar collapse in 1973, with his body never being recovered.

Martínez's report establishes that at Grupo México mines, the bodies of the deceased are only recovered if it is deemed viable to continue extracting resources.

[12] During his mass, Bishop Vera said that "[businesspeople], like Satan in the Gospel, seek the destruction of life, the land, the human being, and the social fabric in the coal mining region of Coahuila".

[12] The following year, on 19 February 2019, the organization installed a 2-meter (6 ft 7 in) tall red cage filled with pieces of coal that bury hard hats of various colors.

The miners' relatives carried sixty-three helmets with their family members' names and pieces of coal from a Coahuila mine.