Rescuers locate four of the ten missing in a Polish mine accident

Rescuers located four of the ten missing people this Saturday after an accident at a mine in Polandthe second in a week, reported the mine management.

“We inform the families that we located the four employees”said Marcin Golebiowski, a senior mine official Zofiowkawhere the accident occurred.

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At the moment, there is nono contact with these employees”, he added.

According to a statement from the mining company JSW, after locating the miners, the rescuers had to leave due to lack of “of oxygen in their cylinders”. The rescue action will resume with the next rescue teams, JSW said.

Polish President Andrzej Duda, who went to the scene, said that there was “Unfortunately, there is a high probability that there will be deaths.”

According to JSW, the shaking on Saturday occurred at a depth of 900 meters at 03:40 local time (01:40 GMT) in the mine of Zofiowka. And there was a major methane leak.

Polish President Andrzej Duda during a press conference in front of the Zofiowka coal mine in Jastrzebie-Zdroj, southern Poland. (EFE/EPA/ZBIGNIEW MEISSNER POLAND/)

After the shake, ten people were missing.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki described it as “devastating” the news of the accident.

Fifty-two miners were near the site. Forty-two of them returned to the surface unharmed.

Twelve lifeguard teams participated in the rescue action. According to JSW, they have to travel between 2,300 and 2,500 meters to reach the likely location of the wanted miners.

The accident this Saturday is the second this week. Five people, including a paramedic, were killed and seven others were missing after two methane explosions on Wednesday at the Pniowek mine. Some 20 people were hospitalized, six of them for severe burns.

Situation analysis “led us to abandon the rescue operation to evacuate the seven miners” that remain at the bottom of the shaft, Tomasz Cudny, president of the JSW group that controls the Pniowek coal mine in Pawlowice (south), told reporters.

View of the Zofiowka coal mine in Jastrzebie-Zdroj, southern Poland. (EFE/EPA/ZBIGNIEW MEISSNER POLAND/)

The leaders of the group reported that between Thursday and Friday night there were new rockfalls, which caused another ten minor injuries among rescuers who were trying to install a new ventilation shaft at the bottom of the shaft, about 1,000 meters deep. depth.

Polandwhich still relies on coal for about 70% of its energy, has suffered several mining accidents in recent years.

In 2021 the mining sector employed about 80,000 people in Poland.

Source: Elcomercio