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Rescue workers at Zofiowka mine: drama at a depth of 900 meters
Photo: ZBIGNIEW MEISSNER / EPA
According to the latest information, four miners lost their lives in a serious mining accident in Poland.
Six men are still missing, according to the mine management.
The scene of the tragedy is the Zofiowka coal mine in Jastrzebie-Zdroj in southern Poland.
There was an earthquake at a depth of 900 meters at around 3.40 a.m. on Saturday morning.
As a result, methane gas escaped.
Of the 52 miners who were underground at the time of the accident, 42 returned to the surface unharmed.
However, the danger of explosions from methane gas hampered the search for the buried victims.
In order to get to them, rescuers tried to restore ventilation in the shaft on Sunday.
explosion at depth
A mine accident only happened on Wednesday in Pniowek, southern Poland: five people died, including a rescue worker.
Two methane gas explosions occurred about a thousand meters below the surface.
20 people suffered injuries, some serious.
The search for seven more missing people was canceled due to another detonation on Friday.
A number of mining accidents have occurred in Poland in recent years.
Last year, for example, two men died and two others were injured when a wall collapsed underground in the Myslowice-Wesola mine in southern Poland.
Poland still gets about 70 percent of its energy from coal.
Almost 80,000 people work in the country's mining sector.
sms/dpa/AFP