Poland: Miner missing after earthquake
January 29, 2019
Seven people were taken to hospital and one person is missing after an earthquake struck a copper mine in western Poland, the mine's operator wrote on Twitter.
"There is only one trapped miner left," KGHM said. "A rescue operation is underway."
The seven hospitalized miners do not have life-threatening injuries, Poland's PAP news agency reported.
Eight miners were rescued after they were reported missing.
A total of thirty-two miners had been at the Rudna site when the quake occurred at a depth of 770 meters (2,520 feet) shortly before 2 p.m. local time (1300 UTC).
The Helmholtz Center in the German city of Potsdam said it recorded a 4.6-magnitude earthquake in the vicinity.
Rudna began operations in 1974 and is one of the largest copper mines in Europe, extracting an average of 12 million tonnes of cooper ore a year.
Inadequate safety precautions have caused underground shocks at Polish mines in recent years.