Missing Polish coal miner found alive more than two days after an earthquake

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A miner who was reported missing after an earthquake shook Poland's Rydultowy coal mine has been found alive more than two days after the accident that killed one of his colleagues and injured another 17, local officials said Saturday.

The miner has been airlifted to hospital and the rescue operation has been closed, said Witold Gałązka of the coal mining group that operates the mine.

Earlier, the office of the provincial governor of the Silesia coal mining region, in southern Poland, said that the miner was conscious and was being transported to the surface.

“This is fantastic news,” provincial governor Marek Wojcik said on TVN24.

The head of the Polish Coal Mining Group that operates the mine, Leszek Pietraszek, said that rescuers reached the 32-year-old miner around 2 p.m. Saturday. He was conscious and communicating, but had some problems breathing. He received first aid from a doctor who also prepared him for transportation to the surface.

Hundreds of rescuers took part in the operation and at times had to be withdrawn from the corridor when more tremors were threatened or due to dangerous methane gas levels. The rescuers had to hand-sift through the rubble to reach the miner, authorities said.

Seventy-eight miners were in the area when a magnitude 3.1 tremor struck about 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) below the surface on Thursday afternoon.

One miner, aged 41, was killed and 17 were hospitalized with injuries. Thirteen of the injured have since been released from the hospital.

The tremor caused an ejection of rocks into the corridor at one spot, where the miner was found Saturday.

The mining group has suffered several deadly accidents this year. In May, three miners died in a cave-in at the Myslowice-Wesola colliery, and one was killed at the same mine in April.

Two miners lost their lives in separate accidents in 2019 and 2020 in the Rydultowy mine, which was opened in 1792 and currently employs about 2,000 miners.

Coal mining is considered hazardous in Poland, where some mines are prone to methane gas explosions or to cave-ins. Excavation in older mines goes deep into the ground in the search for coal, increasing the job’s hazards. The coal industry is among Poland’s key employers, providing some 75,000 jobs.

Last year, 15 miners lost their lives in accidents.