at leastit’s that someone died and 23 others were injured after being trapped more than 300 meters deep in a tourist gold mine at Cripple Creek, in the state of Colorado,
The event occurred Thursday at The “Mollie Kathleen” gold mine, apparently for a mechanical breakdown in an elevator causing a group of tourists to be stuck for more than six hours.
11 people were rescued immediately and a dozen others were trapped for six hours inside the mine from where they were able to escape last night. Among those rescued were two children, according to Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell, who did not provide details about the event.
The elevator suffered some sort of mechanical breakdown going down with a group of tourists, about halfway down the mine shaft. Inside there was another group of people waiting to go to the surface.
As Mikesell stated in statements collected by Reutersthere is a deceased person and 23 other people were slightly injured. However, the sheriff avoided giving details about the circumstances of the death.
The group in the elevator was able to return to the surface, but the device remains out of service.
Rescue teams radioed those trapped in the mine, who said they had water, blankets and chairs to make them comfortable. However, the sheriff warned that he was not informed of the extent of the incident, but was only informed that there had been a problem with the elevator.
State engineers, mining safety experts and firefighters are working to get them out.
Mikesell added that if the elevator cannot be repaired safely, firefighters are preparing for an intervention rescue operationalthough the ideal and main plan is to use the elevator again, because “it would be much safer”. “If we have to do it, we can take people out with these ropes, but it also exposes first responders to the threat and danger of doing so,” he said.
A family-owned company has been providing guided tours of the mine, located about 110 miles south of Denver, for 50 years, with only one unspecified safety incident in 1986.
According to the website, the hour-long tours show how gold has been mined there since a woman named Mollie Kathleen Gortner discovered it in 1891. Underground temperatures typically hover around 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit).
Tours date back to the mine’s beginnings, but became its primary function after mining ceased in 1961.
