Bertalan Havasi, Minister of State heading the Press Office of the Prime Minister, has told kormany.hu that “After an earthquake caused a mine to collapse in Poland, leaving one person dead and several missing, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán conveyed his personal condolences and those of the people of Hungary to Polish prime minister Beata Szydło ”. The death toll has since risen.
The Prime Minister’s Press Chief added that “In his letter, Mr. Orbán said that he was shocked by what had happened and hoped that those missing in the disaster would soon be successfully brought to the surface, in an effort which Hungary is prepared to provide all the assistance it can”.
Mining company KGHM Polska Miedź had earlier announced: “One miner has died and six are missing after a mine collapsed as a result of an earthquake affecting a copper mine in southwestern Poland”.
Company spokesperson Jolanta Piatek told reporters that the earthquake, which occurred not long after 9 o’clock in the evening, caused a collapse 1100 metres below ground at the Rudna mine in Polkowice.
Sixteen miners were at work in the area, nine of whom were successfully brought to the surface and taken to hospital, where one of them later died. According to the spokesperson’s initial statement, three mining rescue teams were working to find the seven miners who were still trapped.
News reports on Polish TV station TVN24 stated that an earthquake measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale occurred at 9:09 p.m., with an epicentre 11 kilometres northwest of Polkewice and a hypocentre 5 kilometres underground.