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Thirteen dead after fire in Czech mine
PRAGUE, Dec 21, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Thirteen miners died and 10 were injured
after a methane gas fire erupted in a coal mine in the east of the Czech
Republic, a spokesman said Friday.
The accident occurred at a depth of 880 metres (2,800 feet) at the CSM
mine in the city of Karvina, about 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of Prague
and close to the Polish border, on Thursday afternoon.
“In total, we have 13 dead miners, 12 Polish and one Czech,” Ivo
Celechovsky, spokesman for the OKD mining company, told AFP.
Nada Chattova, a spokeswoman for the hospital in the nearby city of
Ostrava, said two men had been treated at its burns centre, including one
fighting for his life.
“One was brought in by helicopter, he is still in a critical condition.
The other one is in a stable condition and his life is not in danger,” she
told AFP.
One miner with lighter injuries was taken to a hospital in Karvina and
seven were treated on the spot, also with lighter injuries, Czech media said.
Authorities had reported five dead miners and eight missing on Thursday
evening.
“Thirteen miners have not made it to the surface. It’s impossible for any
of them to survive,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters
after visiting the site on Friday.
“I’m terribly sad,” Morawiecki said, adding that Poland would take care of
the bereaved families and of those who have survived.
He added Poland had sent in a rescue team but that the operation had
stopped because of high temperatures in the mine and the danger of further
explosions.
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda declared Sunday a day of national
mourning.
– ‘Feel like crying’ –
OKD spokesman Celechovsky said the fire was still burning and barriers were
being put up to stop it from spreading, with work expected to continue at
least until Sunday.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis called the blast a “huge tragedy” in a
tweet, while President Milos Zeman said he was “immensely saddened” by the
accident.
Bohuslav Machek, an inspector at the Czech Mining Authority, told AFP the
cause of the fire was uncertain.
“There must have been some source, some spark, which ignited the methane,”
he said.
“There are more possibilities, but at this point, it is pure speculation,”
he added.
Celechovsky said on Thursday the dead Polish miners were from the Poland-
based Alpex mining company.
“We’re one big family, it’s a terrible tragedy,” a Czech miner told the
local Polar TV.
“I was supposed to be there, I work with these teams every day. They sent
me to work somewhere else today,” said a Polish miner.
“I feel like crying,” he told Polar TV.
OKD, which runs the mine, is controlled by the Czech state and expects to
extract about five million tonnes of coal this year.
The accident is the most serious at a Czech mine since 1990 when 30 miners
died after a methane explosion at another mine in Karvina.
BSS/AFP/RY/1730 hrs