Rescuers have reached another miner trapped after an earthquake hit a coal mine in southern Poland, but he is unresponsive and four other miners are still missing, an official said Sunday.
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The head of the Jastrzebie Coal Company, Daniel Ozon, said the latest miner rescued from the Zofiowka colliery was being taken to an underground base Sunday where a doctor would check him. The miner had been trapped under some metal.
More than 200 rescue and support workers were still pressing to reach four other workers missing at the mine in the town of Jastrzebie-Zdroj, close to Poland’s border with the Czech Republic.
So far there has been no contact with the four workers, who are stuck 900 meters (2,950 feet) underground.
Ozon said emergency workers were pumping air into the affected area to lower the level of methane gas before they can safely move ahead.
The rescue was launched at 11:25 a.m. Saturday. Four miners were rescued quickly but seven others went missing. Two of the missing were later found alive and have been hospitalized.
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Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who came to Jastrzebie Zdroj on Saturday night, has visited the hospitalized miners and met with their families.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the accident.
Poland’s State Mining Authority said the temblor had a magnitude of 3.4, while the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre pegged it at 4.3. TVN24 said the quake was also felt on the surface and shook some houses.
