Ruda Slaska, Poland – Rescuers today recovered the bodies of all 17 men missing after a mine accident in southern Poland, bringing the final death toll to 23.
The men were killed by an explosion Tuesday more than 3,000 feet below ground at the Halemba mine in southern Poland.
“This brings to an end this very sad day,” Zbigniew Madej, spokesman for the state-run Coal Co., said at the scene. “Nobody has a sense of relief, but rather a great weight on their heart.” Six of the bodies were recovered shortly after the explosion and the remaining ones were located after rescue efforts resumed in the night.
The search had to be put on hold for most of the day Wednesday when teams encountered high concentrations of methane gas that they feared could cause a second explosion.
It resumed shortly before midnight and the rescue teams found the bodies after digging through hundreds of feet of rubble for more than three hours, Madej said. The methane gas explosion also would have produced temperatures of up to 1,800 degrees, Madej said.
It may take some time to determine whether the miners were killed in the initial blast, by the cave-ins, or whether they died afterward, rescue officials said.
President Lech Kaczynski, who surveyed the site on Wednesday and met with grieving family members, has pledged a full investigation.
The government has also promised financial assistance for the bereaved and a review of safety at all Polish mines.
The miners, who ranged in age from 21 to 59, were attempting to retrieve $23 million worth of equipment from a shaft that was closed in March because of dangerously high gas concentrations. Labor unions complain that a lack of investment and massive layoffs in recent years have resulted in falling safety standards at the nation’s mines. Labor Minister Anna Kalata promised swift financial assistance for the families.
The miners, between 21 and 59 years old, were trying to retrieve valuable equipment that was abandoned months ago in a section of the Halemba mine that was closed because of dangerously high gas concentrations. Labor unions complain that a lack of investment and massive layoffs in recent years have resulted in falling safety standards at the nation’s mines.
The nearly 50-year-old Ha lem ba mine, located in the heart of the Silesia industrial region, is one of the oldest in Poland and has a record of serious accidents. In 1990, 19 miners were killed and 20 injured in a gas explosion at the mine. In 1991, five miners were killed in a cave-in.
Poland’s worst mining accidents were in 1974 and 1979, when explosions killed 34 miners each at the Czechowice-Dzi edzice in Silesia and the Dymitrow mine in Bytom. Attempts to overhaul Poland’s coal industry have stalled amid changes within the Polish administration.
Bloomberg News contributed to this report.
