Warsaw - Twelve miners were killed and 15 were seriously injured with burns in a fire in the KWK Wujek Slask coal mine in Ruda Slaska, near the city of Katowice, local media reported Friday. Eighteen victims were taken to a burn centre in nearby Siemianowice, news channel TVN 24 reported. Another six were hospitalized in Sosnowiec, including two miners with serious skin burns and burns of the respiratory tracts.
The fire was believed to have been caused by methane leaks 1,050 metres below ground in Ruda Slaska, which is in southern Poland. Some 38 miners were in the area at the time of the fire.
"It's hard to describe, this was a real tragedy," a rescue worker told TVN 24. "We fought a battle against time, so the helicopters could quickly return again to the scene. ... We had to see which patients at first view were the most hurt."
Twenty-nine of the miners managed to climb to the surface, while the rest were freed by rescuers, the Polish Press Agency PAP reported.
