FOUR PEOPLE HAVE been killed and seven more are missing following a gas explosion at a coal mine in southern Poland, officials said.
“One of the miners injured by the methane explosion at the Pniowek mine has died in hospital,” the company in charge of the mine, JSW, said on Twitter.
“That is the fourth victim of today’s mining disaster.”
Company chief Tomasz Cudny earlier told PAP news agency that 21 people had been injured.
“We have no contact with eight people who were working there,” he said.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki expressed his condolences and will travel to the area.
The company said that a first blast occurred shortly after midnight at a depth of 1,000 metres.
There were 42 miners in the area where the explosion happened and many of them suffered burns.
A second explosion occurred while rescue workers were assisting the victims of the first blast.
In a statement at 8.30am Irish times, the company also said that the search for the missing had been suspended because of the difficult conditions underground.
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