4 Polish Miners Declared Dead; Search Goes on for 6 Missing

Rescuers join the search action for miners gone missing after a powerful underground tremor and methane gas discharge at the Borynia-Zofiowka coal mine in Jastrzebie-Zdroj, southern Poland, on April 23, 2022. AP Photo

WARSAW, Poland—The death toll from accidents in recent days at two coal mines in southern Poland has increased to nine after four miners were brought to the surface and pronounced dead, authorities said Sunday.

The miners were among 10 missing since an underground tremor and methane gas discharge at the Borynia-Zofiowka mine early Saturday. Six miners there remain missing, but there is no contact with them, and rescuers continue their search.

At the nearby Pniowek mine, five workers died and seven are missing after repeated methane blasts that started Wednesday. The search for the missing there was suspended Friday after new explosions late Thursday injured 10 rescue workers, some seriously.

A police car and a firefighters' truck before the Pniowek coal mine in Pawlowice, southern Poland, on April 20, 2022, where two underground methane explosions killed five people early Wednesday. AP Photo

Both mines are operated by the Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa, or JSW, in the Jastrzebie-Zdroj region, close to the Czech border.

Most Polish coal mines are in the southern Silesia region. Many are characterized by the high presence of methane in the rock.