Tuesday, May 13, 2025
39.0°F

Miners rescued after collapse

The Associated Press | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 years, 8 months AGO
by The Associated Press
| September 5, 2014 8:45 PM

ZENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Exhausted, dusty but happy to be alive, 29 miners were pulled out one by one Friday from a trouble-plagued coal mine that collapsed a day earlier in central Bosnia. They left behind five men, presumed dead under rubble deep underground and beyond the reach of rescuers.

Emergency workers had dug through more than 100 meters (330 feet) of collapsed mine tunnels 500 meters below the surface to reach the trapped men. 

Families of those who were left behind broke down in tears as authorities closed the pit entrance. 

“We could not reach that group of people,” said rescue worker Amir Arnaut. “We could only reach the first group.”

Officials said that an investigation will be launched to determine the cause of the accident, but they suggested it was linked to a 3.5 magnitude earthquake which hit the town of Zenica on Thursday afternoon, according to Bosnia’s seismologists. The tremor caused a pressure burst and a gas blast which collapsed the mine, officials said. 

MORE IMPORTED STORIES

No sign of miner
Coeur d'Alene Press | Updated 14 years ago
Rescuers to drill hole at New Zealand mine
Coeur d'Alene Press | Updated 14 years, 5 months ago
Rescue efforts slowed a week after Zimbabwe mine collapse
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 4 years, 5 months ago

ARTICLES BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

September 9, 2021 12:03 a.m.

The Latest: US helped family escape Afghanistan overland

WASHINGTON — The United States is confirming for the first time that it has helped a U.S. citizen and family members to escape Afghanistan through an overland route to a neighboring country.

September 8, 2021 12:03 a.m.

The Latest: US helped family escape Afghanistan overland

WASHINGTON — The United States is confirming for the first time that it has helped a U.S. citizen and family members to escape Afghanistan through an overland route to a neighboring country.

September 8, 2021 12:03 a.m.

The Latest: Top Republican says Taliban holding Americans

WASHINGTON — The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee says some Americans who have been trying to get out of Afghanistan since the U.S. military left are sitting in airplanes at an airport ready to leave but the Taliban are not letting them take off.