Rescue team inches closer to missing miner
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
17.10.2014 10:21
A rescue team that is trying to reach a missing miner at the Myslowice-Wesola colliery, southern Poland, is inching closer after a methane explosion 11 days ago.
Rescue team. Photo: KWH
An overflow of water has hampered rescue attempts over the last two days, and workers have been pumping out the spillage, which in some places had reached a depth of 1.7 metres.
“Finally some good news,” commented rescue coordinator Grzegorz Standziak, in an interview with the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
“The water level in the flooded areas has decreased to 80 cm,” he revealed.
“We are expecting to begin our penetration of the passageway today, and we expect to find our worker.”
Although the family of the missing miner has not lost hope, there has been no contact with the missing man over the last 11 days.
37 miners were caught underground in the vicinity of the explosion, and of the 36 that made it back to the surface, one has already died of severe burns.
Four men are understood to be in a critical condition, one of whom reportedly deteriorated over the last 24 hours.
Public prosecutors in Katowice are investigating the causes of the initial explosion.
The director of the mine, Eugeniusz Malobedzki was dismissed from his post earlier this week. However, the KHW company which owns the mine has declined to comment on the reasons for his dismissal. (nh)