Czech foundations raise money for families of coal mine blast victims
PR dla Zagranicy
Alicja Baczyńska
28.12.2018 10:00
Two Czech foundations have so far raised over CZK 3.5 million (EUR 136,000, USD 154,000) in total for the families of miners who died in a recent methane blast, Poland’s PAP news agency has reported.
Candles lit outside the coal mine in Karvina, where 13 workers, including 12 Poles, were killed in a methane blast on December 20. Photo: PAP/Andrzej Grygiel
Twelve of the 13 workers killed in the explosion at a coal mine in Karvina, close to the southern Polish border, on December 20, were Poles.
Two separate fundraisers are being carried out by the Czech Republic's St. Barbara Association, which has been supporting orphaned children of coal miners since 2004, and the Ostrava-Karvina Coal Mine Foundation (OKD).
The head of the St. Barbara Association, Monika Nemcova, has told the Czech News Agency (CTK): “We are greatly surprised [with the amount of donations] ... We are very happy as this shows that people are not indifferent.”
Money raised by the association is expected to be distributed among 10 to 15 orphans.
Nemcova said: “We do not know the precise number of children.” She added that the exact number would have to be determined by the job placement agency which recruited the Polish miners.
Meanwhile, the head of the OKD, Karolina Preisingerova, said the money raised by the foundation would be equally distributed among the families regardless of the number of children in the household.
Top Polish and Czech officials have offered their condolences to the grieving families and promised financial help.
Public broadcaster Polish Radio last week said it would donate some of its advertising revenue to those who lost their loved ones in the disaster.
Two Polish miners are still being hospitalised in Ostrava.
One injured Pole suffered extensive burns and remains in critical condition, according to doctors.
(aba/gs)
Source: PAP, CTK
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