WARSAW (AP) – Two days after a mine accident in which five people died at a coal mine in Poland, operations management stopped the search for seven people buried. This is a very difficult decision, the head of the operating company said on Friday, according to Polish news agency PAP.
Previously, methane gas explosions had occurred again during rescue work. Eight rescuers were injured, three of them critically.
Two methane gas explosions had already occurred on Wednesday at the mine in Pniowek, Silesia, south of Katowice. Several miners and rescuers were buried. Five people could only be recovered dead. Initially, a search was made for seven other buried people.
Rescue workers tried to install a pipeline to the crash site on Thursday to enrich the air with oxygen. However, the underground atmosphere suddenly deteriorated, the head of the operations center said. When two rescue teams had already withdrawn, a series of new explosions followed. Now the part of the pit where the accident took place will be isolated from the rest of the mine so as not to put other plant employees at risk.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220422-99-00465/3