After more than nine months, the rescue operation was resumed, the aim of which is to reach seven miners and mine rescuers who were lost underground after last year’s disaster in the Pniówek mine and to bring their bodies to the surface. As informed by Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa, the first stage of the action has been completed. In order to find the missing people, a new, approximately 350-meter long walkway will have to be excavated. This may take four to six months.
April 29 last year as a result of a series of about 20 methane explosions in the Pniówek mine 16 miners and mine rescuers who, after the first explosion, rushed to help the injured lost their lives. Seven of them were left behind three dams, which after the disaster separated the fire area from the other excavations. So far, four meetings of the committee investigating the causes and circumstances of the disaster have been held. Independent proceedings are also conducted by the District Mining Office in Rybnik and the prosecutor’s office.
Candles in front of the Pniówek mine (photo from April 2022)TVN24
JSW: the first stage of the search operation has been completed
On Saturday (February 4), the operation in the Pniówek mine was resumed. A day later, the completion of its first stage was announced. “(…) at 4.09 p.m., the rescue operation in the area of the N-6 longwall ended. This marked the end of the first stage of the search operation, which aims to reach the seven miners missing in April 2022” – said Tomasz Siemienic, spokesman for Jastrzębska of the Coal Company. As he emphasized, the rescuers acted in accordance with the action plan. “(…) they narrowed the dammed area to the excavations located closer to the N-6 longwall by building two insulating dams made of chemical foams. Construction works on the dams began only after ventilating the excavations and obtaining a mine atmosphere safe for rescuers” – he informed.
90 rescue teams took part in the rescue operation: 86 from the mines of Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa and four from the Central Mining Rescue Station in Bytom.
The next stage may take four to six months
“Further work related to restoring the functionality of the N-6 slipway, from where, in accordance with one of the variants of the action, a 350-meter excavation perpendicular to the N-6 longwall is to be made, which will allow rescuers to safely reach the missing miners. This stage of the action is to be carried out on rules of preventive work and may take four to six months” – described Siemieniec.
Main photo source: TVN24