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NINETEEN MINERS WERE trapped in a collapsed tunnel at Rudna copper mine in Poland when an earthquake hit south-west of Warsaw just after 10pm last night.
Emergency services say they rescued all 19 workers after about eight hours of digging through rock and earth, according to BBC News.
Reuters reports that the men were trapped about 600 metres below the surface. Two were treated for minor injuries but the other 17 have returned home.
A spokesperson for the mine’s owner KGHM said it was the biggest accident in the firm’s history. The State-controlled company is Europe’s second-biggest copper producer. It operates in the Lower Silesia region, which is rich in mineral resources.
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Thanks be to God, this kind of situations not always are ending in a good way.
a heartwarming story for a change. Great that all are safe.
If that happened over here there would probably be mostly Polish in it too
They are very lucky, good to see them all rescued
Thank god they are all safe and can reunite with their families
Thank god all are safe
Thank man they’re safe. After all it seems it was an ‘act of god’ that put them in danger….
After “earthquake hit” ??? Jesus… That “earthquake” was cause by the tunnel collapsing in the mine, not the other way around. Get it right lads.
Actually, there was a localised tremor that is understood to have caused the cave-in at the tunnel: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000fp74#summary
But thanks for the comment. For future reference: if you want to query anything with the author, there is a ‘Send a Correction’ button beside our details. Might be a nicer way of doing it.
Have a good one. Sinéad
Morning Sinead you are up early!
It’s is possible this was Induced Seismicity, caused by mining activity. Induced Seismicity is relatively common, it can happen when human activity causes weight on the Earth’s crust to change, it usually happens when new Dam are built and water in the reservoir presses down on the crust. The Rudna mine shifted 300 million tons or ore since mining began in 1974.
Gibowicz, S.J., Droste, Z., Guterch, B. & Hordejuk, J. 1981. The Belchatow, Poland, earthquakes of 1979 and 1980 induced by surface mining. Engineering Geology 17(4), 257–271.
Good news
Looks like I was right, just found this -
A SEARCH FOR SEQUENCES OF MINING-INDUCED SEISMIC EVENTS AT THE RUDNA COPPER MINE IN POLAND – Grzegorz KWIATEK
The largest earthquakes caused by the mine before this mag 4.6 event, were Mag 4.1 and 4.2.
Quick take the too a Man U game and get them on Leno!!
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