WARSAW (Reuters) – Polish paramedics treated 16 injured coal miners on Wednesday after methane ignited in a mine in southern Poland, the ambulance service said.
Operator JSW said the gas had ignited in the Knurow-Szczyglowice mine at a depth of more than 850 metres.
“Medical assistance was provided to 16 people. Fourteen people have been transported to hospitals,” Lukasz Pach, director of the Regional Emergency Medical Service in Katowice, was quoted as saying by state news agency PAP.
He said one miner was still being brought to the surface and would likely then be taken to hospital by helicopter.
Some 44 people were in the area where the gas ignited, Aleksander Chowaniec, deputy head of the State Mining Authority, told state-run broadcaster TVP Info earlier, adding that victims had suffered burns.
JSW shares were down 2.3% at 1132 GMT.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz, Anna Banacka; Editing by Louise Heavens, Jason Neely and Jan Harvey)
