Twelve miners were killed on Friday in a methane explosion at the Wujek-Slask coal mine in southern Poland, said a spokeswoman for the country's mines authority. "Twelve coal miners are dead and 15 are in serious condition," Edyta Tomaszewska told AFP via telephone. A total of 30 miners were hospitalised after the blast which ripped through the mine in Ruda Slaska-Kochlowice, she added.
Wujek-Slask mine spokesman Andrzej Bielecki said around 40 miners were underground in the area when the blast occurred 1,050 meters (nearly 3,500 feet) below the surface. Twenty-nine escaped to the surface while the remainder were evacuated by mine rescue workers, Bielecki said. The death toll could rise further as several miners sustained serious burns, he said. "There are no more people in the accident zone, rescuers are on site. The fire has been brought under control," he added.
Poland's Interior Minister Grzegorz Schetyna was due to arrive at the accident site later Friday. Friday's lethal explosion was the worst in Polish mines since the death of 23 miners in November 2006 in a methane blast at the Halemba mine in the same southern Polish community of Ruda Slaska. Several mine managers are on trial in connection with the disaster.
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