Rescuers continue search for missing coal miner
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
10.10.2014 11:08
Miners are building a concrete dam in a bid to secure a safe passage to a colleague who has been trapped at the Myslowice-Wesola colliery, southern Poland, since a methane explosion on Monday evening.
The Myslowice-Wesola mine in southern Poland. Photo: PAP/Andrzej Grygiel
26 miners are still in hospital as a result of the initial blast, and fears that further explosions could occur have hampered attempts to reach the missing man so far.
On Wednesday, members of the rescue team got within 500 metres of the 42-year-old, but dire conditions compelled miners to build an additional ventilation shaft.
However, with rescuers still facing critical risks, 55 tonnes of concrete blocks will now be used to build a dam protecting miners trying to reach the site.
“Its construction will allow rescuers to enter the zone where they expect to find the miner,” commented Wojciech Jaros, a spokesman for the mine, in an interview with the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
He noted that it will take about a day to build the dam.
The family of the missing miner is still holding out hope that he has survived. In 1971, a worker survived for a week underground before being rescued at Poland's Mikulczyce-Rokitnica mine. (nh)