After a strong tremor at a Polish mine, dozens of miners remain underground

A strong tremor struck the Rydultowy coal mine in Poland this morning, near the border with Czechia. Dozens of miners remain underground. Some reports say there could be more than 50, while others put the figure at around 40. Rescue workers have no contact with two miners, the Onet website reports. Another 15 people reached the surface, ten of whom are in hospital, TVN24 added.

„There was a strong tremor… The rescue operation is continuing. There are injured people; they are bringing them out,“ a dispatcher at the Polish mining authority told the Polish Press Agency PAP.

According to a spokesperson for the mine’s owner, mining company Polska Grupa Górnicza (PGG), the tremor occurred after 8:00 at a depth of approximately 1.2 kilometres. Company spokesperson Aleksandra Wysocká-Siembigová ruled out a methane explosion.

It is not yet entirely clear how many people remain underground. According to a PGG spokesperson, 68 miners were in the affected section of the mine when the tremor struck. „There are still 53 (miners) underground,“ Wysocká-Siembigová told Reuters, adding that there was no contact with two workers.

Lukasz Pach, head of the rescue service in Katowice, earlier told TVN24 that around 40 people remained underground, while another 15 had reached the surface. Ten of them were in hospital, but were in stable condition. According to the Onet website’s initial reports, rescue workers had no contact with around ten people.

More than ten mining rescue teams are working at the scene.

The Rydultowy mine is one of the oldest hard coal mines in Upper Silesia, TVN24 noted. It has been operating since 1792 and currently employs more than 2,000 miners. Mining accidents have occurred there in the past: in 2020, a 46-year-old miner died when rock fell from the mine roof, and a year earlier, a 44-year-old mine worker was killed in a tremor, Onet reports.

Poland, which relies heavily on coal for its energy, has experienced several mining accidents in recent years. In May this year, two miners were killed in a tremor at the Myslowice-Wesola mine in southern Poland.