At least 1 miner dead, 6 trapped after tremor in Polish coal mine

WARSAW (REUTERS, AFP) - One miner was confirmed dead after a tremor at the Borynia-Zofiowka coal mine in Poland, and rescuers are still trying to reach six more underground, mine owner JSW said.

A tremor shook the pit at 3.40am on Saturday (April 23), 900 metres below the surface, sparking a methane leak, its owner JSW said.

There were 52 workers in the area, out of whom 42 got out on their own and 10 remained underground.

After many hours, rescuers reached four miners late on Saturday, but they did not show any signs of life, JSW said.

“The first victim in Zofiówka. Rescuers transported one of the four miners found... The miner was transported to the rescue base, where the doctor declared his death,” JSW said in a statement published at night.

Poland, which relies on coal for some 70 per cent of its power, has had several other mining disasters in recent years.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who visited the scene on Saturday, called the accident "devastating".

In 2018, five miners were killed when an earthquake struck the same coalmine.

JSW is also the owner of a mine in Pniowek some 230 kilometres south, where an accident on Wednesday killed five, including a rescuer, and left seven missing.

An initial explosion occurred shortly after midnight on Wednesday at a depth of 1,000 metres.

A second shook the site while rescue workers were helping the victims of the first.

Twenty people were hurt, including six with serious burns.

The search for the seven people missing was called off on Friday after a third blast made conditions in the pit too dangerous, JSW said.

Mr Morawiecki stressed that both recent accidents would be "checked very carefully" to determine whether they were simple accidents due to natural causes or whether mistakes had been made.

In addition to the 2018 accident in Zofiowka, last year two men were killed and two others injured when an underground wall collapsed at the southern Myslowice-Wesola mine.