WARSAW, May 6 (Reuters) - A gas explosion in a coal mine in southern Poland has killed two miners, and six other people remain trapped underground, the head of the mine said on Friday.
The methane explosion late on Thursday caused a fire in the Krupinski mine, owned by Europe’s largest coking coal miner JSW, near the town of Pszczyna in the industrial region of Silesia.
High temperatures, smoke and fire have been hampering rescue operations. Two rescuers became trapped along with four miners.
"We have just regained voice contact with the four miners trapped there since yesterday evening and the two rescuers, but we don’t know what shape they are in," said Jaroslaw Zagorowski, head of the mine.
Twelve miners were injured in the accident and eight of them were in hospital with severe burns after being pulled out during the night.
Accidents, including gas explosions, are not uncommon in mines in Poland, which relies on coal for more than 90 percent of its energy needs.
Poland’s centre-right government wants to float state-owned JSW on the Warsaw bourse in June but is locked in difficult negotiations with labour unions over the plan.
JSW employs nearly 23,000 people and is estimated to be worth as much as $3.6 billion.
