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UPDATE 3: Rescuers injured in new blasts at Polish coal mine

22.04.2022 09:30
Four more blasts shook the Pniówek coal mine in southern Poland on Thursday, injuring 10 rescuers, officials confirmed on Friday morning, after at least five workers were killed in apparent methane explosions earlier this week.
Four more blasts shook the Pniówek coal mine in southern Poland on Thursday after at least five people were killed in apparent methane gas explosions a day earlier.
Four more blasts shook the Pniówek coal mine in southern Poland on Thursday after at least five people were killed in apparent methane gas explosions a day earlier.PAP/Zbigniew Meissner

The first of the new blasts occurred on Thursday night as rescue teams worked to reach seven miners trapped inside the mine, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

As a result of the explosion, 10 emergency workers were hospitalised with injuries, “but their lives are not in danger,” local authorities said. 

After the emergency teams withdrew from the mine, three further blasts were recorded, according to officials.

Wednesday’s disaster: Five dead, seven missing

Thursday’s explosions came after tragic events a day earlier when five workers were killed, six seriously injured and seven went missing following two methane explosions at the Pniówek coal mine.

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki visited the mine in the aftermath of the disaster, offering their condolences to the families of the victims and support to the operation to save the missing miners.

After Thursday’s blasts, the rescue mission was suspended until conditions are safe again, the PAP news agency reported.

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: PAPjsw.pl