WARSAW, April 24, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Rescuers searching for miners who went
missing in an accident in the south of Poland on Saturday have found one
dead, but failed to locate nine others, the mine's owners JSW said on Sunday.

  "The miner was taken to the rescuers' base where the doctor confirmed his
death," JSW said in a statement.

  He was the first of four miners located on Saturday, but there has been no
contact with the others, the statement said.

  "Other rescue teams are still trying to re-establish ventilation in the
mine shafts in order to reach the six other miners and transport them when
they have been found," JSW said. The accident -- the second such incident in
Poland last week -- took place at the Zofiowka mine in the south of the
country.

  Poland, which relies on coal for some 70 percent of its power, has had
several other mining disasters in recent years.

  A tremor shook the Zofiowka pit at 3:40 am (0140 GMT) on Saturday, 900
metres (2,950 feet) below the surface, sparking a methane leak.

  All but 10 of the 52 miners underground managed to make it to the surface.

  JSW is also the owner of a mine in Pniowek some 230 kilometres (140 miles)
south, where an accident on Wednesday killed five, including a rescuer, and
left seven missing.

  An initial explosion occurred shortly after midnight on Wednesday at a
depth of 1,000 metres.

  A second shook the site while rescue workers were helping the victims of
the first.

  Twenty people were hurt, including six with serious burns. The search for
the seven people missing was called off on Friday after a third blast made
conditions in the pit too dangerous, JSW said.