WARSAW: Coal mining authorities in Poland said Saturday that contact has been lost with 10 miners following a powerful underground tremor and methane gas discharge at the Borynia-Zofiowka mine in the south of the country.
The accident at 3:40 am Saturday occurred some 900 metres underground. It was the second colliery accident in just four days in the coal mining region around the town of Jastrzebie-Zdroj, near the Czech border.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Twitter that this was "devastating news again" from the mining region. He said his thoughts and prayers are with those missing and their relatives.
Repeat methane blasts since Wednesday at the nearby Pniowek mine have killed five and left seven missing and injured dozens.
The search for those missing there was suspended Friday after new blasts injured seven rescuers. Both mines are operated by the Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa, or JSW, company.
The company said that 52 workers were in the area of the tremor at the Borynia-Zofiowka mine and 42 of them were unhurt and were able to leave the shaft on their own. A 12-team rescue operation has been launched for the 10 missing miners.
Poland relies on its own coal and coal imports for almost 70% of its energy needs, drawing criticism from the European Union and environmental groups concerned about CO2 emissions and climate change. Most Polish coal mines are in the southern Silesia region.
The Polish government has been scaling down the use of coal and recently announced it would end coal imports from Russia by May, part of Poland's drive to reduce its dependence on Russian energy in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.