Authorities have confirmed the deaths of five people after Wednesday’s methane explosion in the mine. The site of the accident is now to be isolated from the rest of the mine so as not to endanger other plant workers.
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“It’s a very difficult decision,” JSW chief Tomasz Cudny told reporters this morning. According to TVN24, the company’s representatives added that the area where seven people remained was too dangerous for the rescue operation and that sending other teams would be irresponsible.
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An explosion shook the mine in Pawlovice in the Silesian Voivodeship on Wednesday shortly after midnight, about 1,000 meters below the surface. According to JSW, there were 42 miners at the time. 39 of them managed to get to the surface. While rescue teams searched for three miners, there was a secondary explosion that claimed more lives, Gazeta Prawna said.
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An ambulance in front of the Pniowek mine in the south of Poland.
Photo: Dominik Gajda / Wyborcza agency, Reuters
Four of the five died on the spot, one after being transported to the hospital. According to the Polish media, another nine people are seriously injured as a result of Wednesday’s explosion and eleven have minor injuries.
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Seven more people were still being searched, but another explosion erupted on Thursday.
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