The rescue operation in the Pniówek mine was interrupted for the safety of the rescuers. The last missing miner could not be found – said the spokesman for Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa, which owns the mine. Preparations for the next rescue operation may take about a month. So far, rescuers have managed to find six of the seven miners who remained underground after the April 2022 disaster.
After penetrating 185 meters of the N-6 wall, rescuers failed to find the last missing miner.
– Rescuers worked in increasingly difficult climatic conditions with every meter of progress. The action manager, after consulting the extended team of the action headquarters, decided to discontinue the rescue operation for the safety of the rescuers, said Tomasz Siemieniec, spokesman for JSW.
Read also: They came back for seven miners. Operation in the Pniówek mine has resumed
Candles in front of the Pniówek mineJSW/Dawid Lach
The mine management decided to return to the second planned solution in the action plan, i.e. blocking the longwall area and making a cutting from the N-9 ramp directly to the N-6 longwall in the place of the probable location of the missing miner. – Drilling the cutting and preparing for the next rescue operation may take about a month – added the spokesman. On Wednesday morning, rescuers the body of the sixth was found of the miners missing in last year’s disaster. The found bodies were transported to the forensic medicine facility. The identification process has also begun. These are members of the rescue team that came to the aid of injured miners after the first methane explosion. Then the methane exploded once again.
According to Siemieniec, 133 rescue teams have taken part in the operation since Saturday.
Rescuers returned for seven miners, and the bodies of six of them were foundJSW/Dawid Lach
Disaster in the Pniówek mine
On April 20, 2022, as a result of a series of methane explosions 16 miners and mine rescuers who rushed to help the injured after the first explosion lost their lives in the Pniówek mine. Seven of them remained behind the dams, which separated the fire area from the remaining workings after the disaster. To reach the missing people, it was necessary to excavate a new, almost 350-meter long gallery, parallel to the dammed mining wall. The work lasted several months. On Saturday, rescuers broke through to the disaster area and began to penetrate it, finding the bodies of five of the seven miners on Monday morning.
Main photo source: JSW/Dawid Lach