Cave-in leaves two miners dead, one missing and 12 injured at Polish coal mine
14 May 2024, 12:44
The cave-in happened around 3.30am on Tuesday, some 870 metres underground in an area where 15 miners were working.
Two miners were killed and one remains missing after a cave-in at the Myslowice-Wesola coal mine in southern Poland in which 12 other miners were hurt, mining authorities said.
The cave-in happened around 3.30am on Tuesday, some 870 metres (2,800 feet) underground in an area where 15 miners were working, said Rajmund Horst, the deputy head of the company that runs the mine.
He said two of the miners located by rescuers and brought to the surface were declared dead, while one was being taken to the hospital.
Eleven other miners were earlier brought to the surface with various injuries.
Nine of them remain hospitalised.
Rescuers were still searching for one missing miner but had no contact with him.
Six teams of rescuers are working in the area.
The accident happened near the coal face, an area especially exposed to cave-ins or explosions of methane gas, which is present in the rock in many Polish coal mines.
It is the second cave-in at the Myslowice-Wesola mine this year, following one on April 17 that killed one miner.
Two other coal mine workers were killed in accidents inside other mines in Poland this year, while in 2023, 15 miners were killed in on-the job accidents.
