Rescuers in Mexico have pulled a ninth body from the remains of a coal mine destroyed in an explosion in the north of the country.

A total of 14 miners were trapped underground when a gas blast shook the vertical-shaft mine on Tuesday.

Miners had been taking turns to dig away at the rubble but officials now say there is no hope anyone survived.

The pit is situated near the site of one of the country's worst mining disasters, in San Juan de Sabinas.

Sixty five men died there in 2006.

"I'll bring up my son's body in pieces if I have to," said one miner, Adolfo Gonzalez, as he rested after searching for the remaining bodies.

Labour Secretary Javier Lozano has pledged to recover the remaining bodies from the Sabinas mine.

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