Rescuers searching for Polish miners trapped almost a kilometre underground since a tunnel collapsed 11 days ago have found the body of the last missing man. The tragic tremor took lives of five men, coal company JSW said on Wednesday.
The Zofiówka mine in southern Poland was hit by an earthquake on May 5, initially trapping seven miners. Two were rescued early last week.
"The (last) miner's body was trapped under one of many structures in the destroyed pit," JSW, the European Union's biggest coking coal producer, said in a statement.
"There are no words to convey the pain, the sorrow and the hardship. We won't leave on your own," said Dariusz Ozon to the families of the miners that died underground. The chairman of Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa added that "it's an extreme tragedy for all us, a tragedy that took lives of five men".
Extremely difficult rescue
At the time of the quake, about 250 people were working underground. The missing miners were in a team drilling a new tunnel. The quake of magnitude ranging from 3.5 to 4.0 was the strongest recorded in the mine, officials said.
The tremor in the Zofiówka coal mine occured on May 5. Two miners were rescued shortly after the quake. The next day, bodies of another two miners were found. Next two bodies were discovered only a week later on Saturday and Sunday. The body of the last missing man was found early Wednesday morning. About 1,000 people were involved in the rescue effort.
The mayor of Jastrzębie-Zdrój announced a 7-day-long mourning.
Around 83,000 people work in Poland's coal mining sector. Fifteen people died in mining-related accidents in 2017.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24, Reuters
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24