One person died and several were injured in an accident at a gold mine in Colorado. More than 20 tourists had to wait for hours at a depth of around three hundred meters before they could be rescued.
A person has died during a visitor tour of a disused gold mine in the US state of Colorado. According to police reports, 23 people who had to remain in the depths for hours after an elevator broke down on Thursday were rescued.
The incident occurred during a tour of the Mollie Kathleen mine, which takes visitors around 300 meters underground, police said. Accordingly, a group of visitors was in the elevator when it had a mechanical failure. One person died and four others were slightly injured.
The accident occurred at a depth of approximately 500 feet, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell announced. There were eleven other people in the elevator at the time of the accident, including two children. They were finally brought safely from the mine to the surface using the same elevator.
Twelve people who were stuck in a tunnel at the bottom of the mine for six hours because of the elevator breakdown were also rescued, Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced on the online service X. According to police, people could only be brought outside once the elevator system was deemed safe and reopened for use.
In the meantime, those waiting were provided with chairs, blankets and water. The mood in the mine was good, said Sheriff Mikesell. However, the people in the tunnel were not initially informed about the death so as not to worry them further. The police initially did not provide any information about the reason for the elevator breakdown and referred to the ongoing investigation.
The gold mine outside the small town of Cripple Creek, which is about 100 miles south of Denver, offers visitors the opportunity to experience the Wild West as it was during the time of the gold rush. The mine was closed until further notice following the “tragic” incident, according to the tourist attraction’s website.
AFP/light/con
