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UPDATE: One miner dead in methane explosion at Polish coal mine

23.01.2025 15:50
As a result of an explosion in a coal mine in Szczygłowice, located in southern Poland, one miner died while being treated at a local burn care center in Siemianowice Śląskie. 
Artur Rozmus (right), Vice President of Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa (JSW), and Łukasz Pach (third from the left), Director of the Voivodeship Emergency Medical Services in Katowice, address the media at the Knurów-Szczygłowice mine. A methane explosion occurred below 850 meters on January 22, 2025.
Artur Rozmus (right), Vice President of Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa (JSW), and Łukasz Pach (third from the left), Director of the Voivodeship Emergency Medical Services in Katowice, address the media at the Knurów-Szczygłowice mine. A methane explosion occurred below 850 meters on January 22, 2025.Photo: PAP/Michał Meissner

The injured man had approximately 40% of his body burned, including severe respiratory burns and third-degree burns on his face and head. The deceased was a pit supervisor and had worked in the Polish mine for 17 years.

Eight miners from the Knurów-Szczygłowice mine, which is owned by Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa (JSW), are still hospitalized in Siemianowice.

As reported earlier by Radio Poland, a methane explosion occurred at the Knurów-Szczygłowice mine on Wednesday morning, leading to the evacuation of 44 miners, with 16 sustaining injuries, and 9 were taken to the burn care center in Siemianowice Śląskie.

Currently, efforts are underway to seal and isolate the affected area, as there is still an elevated concentration of flammable gases at the site of the explosion.

Piotr Kalbron, the District Labor Inspector in Katowice (a city in the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland near or on the border with the Czech Republic), expressed his condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased miner.

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Source: PAP/Radio Poland/X/@jsw_sa/@Piotr_Kalbron

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