Andrzej Duda expressed his condolences to the families of the victims, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The president said: “It’s a tragic situation; everyone knows that working in a mine involves risk, unfortunately sometimes disaster strikes and that’s what happened at Pniówek.”
Duda told reporters that five people have died as a result of the blasts, six miners were in “very serious condition” in hospital after suffering burns, and seven people were still missing inside the mine.
He said that a rescue operation was under way to find the missing workers, adding that it would take “many hours to reach them.”
Duda, who earlier met the emergency teams, praised their “extraordinary bravery, extraordinary heroism.”
He said: “We are praying that they bring their colleagues out alive.”
Disaster at Pniówek mine
The tragic events began shortly after midnight on Wednesday, the PAP news agency reported.
A methane explosion rocked the Pniówek mine as 42 miners were working on a night shift, officials said.
A relief operation was launched but as rescue teams looked for three missing workers, a second blast apparently occurred at 3 a.m., reporters were told.
By 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 21 of the 42 miners had been transferred to hospitals, most of them with burns of the respiratory tract, according to the local ambulance service and health officials.
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki visited Pniówek on Wednesday afternoon, extending his sympathies to the families of the victims.
"I would like to say that the thoughts of the entire country are with you,” he told them.
The Pniówek coal mine, based in Pawłowice in Poland's southern Upper Silesia region, is part of the state-run JSW group, the country’s biggest coal producer.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, jsw.pl