One dead, 23 trapped after Polish coal mine blast (PRAYER NEEDED)

Reuters ^ | Tue Nov 21, 2006 | Wojciech Zurawski

[lizol]

One dead, 23 trapped after Polish coal mine blast

Tue Nov 21, 2006 3:14 PM EST

By Wojciech Zurawski

RUDA SLASKA, Poland (Reuters) - A gas explosion killed at least one miner and trapped 23 others underground in a deep coal mine in southern Poland on Tuesday, police said.

A police spokesman said the blast, which was probably caused by methane, occurred at around 4:30 p.m. (1530 GMT) in a shaft about 1 km below ground.

"Some 23 people are (down) there right now and there is absolutely no contact with them," he said.

A spokesman for the coal mine in the town of Ruda Slaska, around 300 km (190 miles) southwest of the capital Warsaw, said rescue work was in progress but was likely to take some time.

"It is hard to say exactly what is going on there right now," Zbigniew Madej, spokesman for the state-run Polish Coal Company, told Polish All News television.

Local television said that at least one other person had died in the mine but police were not able to confirm this.

Miner Andrzej Labus, who was in a nearby mine shaft when the blast occurred, told Reuters he had heard a loud explosion and feared the worst.

"There was a huge blast and suddenly everything turned black. We were terribly scared," he said.

The mine, Halemba, is one of the oldest in Poland and has been in operation since 1957.

It lies at the heart of Silesia's industrial belt and has seen several disasters in the past. In 1990, 19 miners were killed in the same pit after a gas explosion.

The town of Ruda Slaska has also suffered deaths from its other mines and as recently as July four miners were killed in another incident in a different pit, Polish television reported

Families of the trapped miners gathered at the mine as news of the blast spread.

"Me and my son we are waiting for my husband," said Barbara Luczakiewicz, the wife of one of the trapped men. "We hope he will get out of there. I am very scared but I haven't lost hope."

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski was on his way to the mine, a government spokesman said.

[lizol]

Unfortunately - according to the latest news at least 8 of them are dead.

[Bahbah]

Oh no, how sad. Prayers for the lives of the others and for the souls of the dead.

[SolidWood]

God protect them and let them all return alive and in good health.

[lizol]

[fieldmarshaldj]

May the victims rest in peace, prayers for a successful rescue of the other miners.

[lizol]

Eastern European ping list

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[Married with Children]

Amen to That!

[kronos77]

Iw just saw news on Serbian TV. Prayers for both dead and trapped miners. Miners life is hard, miners death is horrible.

God help them.

[lizol]

The manager of that mine has just said, that the chance that they'll be saved are very, very low.

Horrible.

[Rushmore Rocks]

Prayers up. May God help them all and those who love them.

[wizr]

Dear Lord, please be with these hard working men, and their loved ones, during these difficult hours. May those you take home be blessed. In your heavenly name we pray. Amen.

[CindyDawg]

Praying.

[kronos77]

Horrible... being buried alive :(
Once mi friend went down the mine shaft, he is mechanic engineer. He said: "the next time I go down th ground, it will be in coffin"

[Ramius]

Lord help them please in this horrifying time.

[metmom]

ping for prayer.

[BlessedBeGod]

Prayers on the way!

[lizol]

I have only been to Wieliczka salt mine museum - which is pretty clean (nothing like coal mine).

Good to go, to see, and to be back.

But to work there?

Brrrrr!

My father spent 2 years in a coal mine in 50's - he was sent there instead of being drafted to the army. It was kind of a punishementt for the "enemies of the socialist state".
Dad just graduated from the agricultural university at that time and didn't want to join the party, neither to be involved in establishing socialist cooperatives.
To make things "better" - my grandfather was a kulak, and in 1920's he was a cavalry man - fighting Bolsheviks in POlish-Bolshevik war.

So - dad was lucky, that he was sent to coal mine, not to uranium one (like many others).

[JOE43270]

Prayers are INCOMING.

[Allegra]

May God be with these miners.

And may He stand close with the loved ones who will grieve.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Prayers needed here!!