2 workers dead, 1 missing after Polish coal mine caves in, authorities say

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• Two miners were killed and one is missing after a cave-in at Myslowice-Wesola coal mine in southern Poland.
• The incident happened in an area where 15 miners were working, authorities said.
• Two other coal mine workers died in separate accidents in Poland this year, with 15 fatalities in 2023.

Two miners were killed and one remains missing after a cave-in at the Myslowice-Wesola coal mine in southern Poland early Tuesday in which 12 other miners were hurt, mining authorities said Tuesday.

The cave-in happened around 3:30 a.m. some 2,800 feet underground in an area where 15 miners were working, said Rajmund Horst, the deputy head of the company that runs the mine.

He said two of the miners located by rescuers and brought to the surface were declared dead, while one was being taken to the hospital. Eleven other miners were earlier brought to the surface with various injuries. Nine of them remain hospitalized.

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Rescuers were still searching for one missing miner but had no contact with him. Six teams of rescuers were working in the area.

An ambulance is seen leaving the Myslowice-Wesola coal mine in Myslowice, southern Poland, on May 14, 2024, where two miners were killed, one went missing and another 12 were injured in a cave-in. (AP Photo/Kasia Zaremba-Majcher)

The accident happened near the coal face, an area especially exposed to cave-ins or explosions of methane gas, which is present in the rock in many Polish coal mines.

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It is the second cave-in at the Myslowice-Wesola mine this year, following one on April 17 that killed one miner. Two other coal mine workers were killed in accidents inside other mines in Poland this year, while in 2023, 15 miners were killed in on-the job accidents.