WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A miner who was reported missing after an earthquake shook Poland's Rydultowy coal mine has been found alive more than two days after the accident that killed one of his colleagues and injured another 17, local officials said Saturday.
The miner has been airlifted to hospital and the rescue operation has been closed, said Witold Gałązka of the coal mining group that operates the mine.
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An ambulance heads into the Rydultowy coal mine near the city of Rybnik, in southern Poland, on Thursday, July 11, 2024. Officials say that two Polish coal miners remain unaccounted for and at least 15 have been injured after a powerful tremor shook the Rydultowy coal mine. Rescuers are struggling to reach dozens of others. (AP Photo/Katarzyna Zaremba-Majcher)
An airborne ambulance near the Rydultowy coal mine near the city of Rybnik, in southern Poland, on Thursday, July 11, 2024. Officials say that two Polish coal miners remain unaccounted for and at least 15 have been injured after a powerful tremor shook the Rydultowy coal mine. Rescuers are struggling to reach dozens of others. (AP Photo/Katarzyna Zaremba-Majcher)
Rescuers transport an injured miner to an airborne ambulance near the Rydultowy coal mine near the city of Rybnik, in southern Poland, Thursday, July 11, 2024. Two Polish coal miners were unaccounted for and at least 15 were injured after a powerful tremor shook the Rydultowy coal mine about 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) underground on Thursday, officials said. Rescuers struggled to reach about two dozen others. (AP Photo/Katarzyna Zaremba-Majcher)
Missing Polish coal miner found alive more than two days after an earthquake
Missing Polish coal miner found alive more than two days after an earthquake
Earlier, the office of the provincial governor of the Silesia coal mining region, in southern Poland, said that the miner was conscious and was being transported to the surface.
“This is fantastic news,” provincial governor Marek Wojcik said on TVN24.
The head of the Polish Coal Mining Group that operates the mine, Leszek Pietraszek, said that rescuers reached the 32-year-old miner around 2 p.m. Saturday. He was conscious and communicating, but had some problems breathing. He received first aid from a doctor who also prepared him for transportation to the surface.
Hundreds of rescuers took part in the operation and at times had to be withdrawn from the corridor when more tremors were threatened or due to dangerous methane gas levels. The rescuers had to hand-sift through the rubble to reach the miner, authorities said.
Seventy-eight miners were in the area when a magnitude 3.1 tremor struck about 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) below the surface on Thursday afternoon.
One miner, aged 41, was killed and 17 were hospitalized with injuries. Thirteen of the injured have since been released from the hospital.
The tremor caused an ejection of rocks into the corridor at one spot, where the miner was found Saturday.
The mining group has suffered several deadly accidents this year. In May, three miners died in a cave-in at the Myslowice-Wesola colliery, and one was killed at the same mine in April.
Two miners lost their lives in separate accidents in 2019 and 2020 in the Rydultowy mine, which was opened in 1792 and currently employs about 2,000 miners.
Coal mining is considered hazardous in Poland, where some mines are prone to methane gas explosions or to cave-ins. Excavation in older mines goes deep into the ground in the search for coal, increasing the job’s hazards. The coal industry is among Poland’s key employers, providing some 75,000 jobs.
Last year, 15 miners lost their lives in accidents.
An ambulance heads into the Rydultowy coal mine near the city of Rybnik, in southern Poland, on Thursday, July 11, 2024. Officials say that two Polish coal miners remain unaccounted for and at least 15 have been injured after a powerful tremor shook the Rydultowy coal mine. Rescuers are struggling to reach dozens of others. (AP Photo/Katarzyna Zaremba-Majcher)
An airborne ambulance near the Rydultowy coal mine near the city of Rybnik, in southern Poland, on Thursday, July 11, 2024. Officials say that two Polish coal miners remain unaccounted for and at least 15 have been injured after a powerful tremor shook the Rydultowy coal mine. Rescuers are struggling to reach dozens of others. (AP Photo/Katarzyna Zaremba-Majcher)
Rescuers transport an injured miner to an airborne ambulance near the Rydultowy coal mine near the city of Rybnik, in southern Poland, Thursday, July 11, 2024. Two Polish coal miners were unaccounted for and at least 15 were injured after a powerful tremor shook the Rydultowy coal mine about 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) underground on Thursday, officials said. Rescuers struggled to reach about two dozen others. (AP Photo/Katarzyna Zaremba-Majcher)
Missing Polish coal miner found alive more than two days after an earthquake
Missing Polish coal miner found alive more than two days after an earthquake
LONDON (AP) — A British teen pleaded guilty Monday to murdering three girls and attempting to kill 10 other people in what a prosecutor said was a “meticulously planned” stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, entered the surprise plea as jury selection had been expected to begin at the start of his trial in Liverpool Crown Court.
The July 29 stabbings sent shock waves across the U.K. and led to a week of widespread rioting across parts of England and Northern Ireland after the suspect was falsely identified as an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat. He was born in Wales.
The attack occurred on the first day of summer vacation when the little girls at the Hart Space, a sanctuary hidden behind a row of houses, were in a class to learn yoga and dance to the songs of Taylor Swift. What was supposed to be a day of joy turned to terror and heartbreak when Rudakubana, armed with a knife, intruded and began stabbing the girls and their teacher in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England.
“This was an unspeakable attack — one which left an enduring mark on our community and the nation for its savagery and senselessness," Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor Ursula Doyle said. “A day which should have been one of carefree innocence; of children enjoying a dance workshop and making friendship bracelets, became a scene of the darkest horror as Axel Rudakubana carried out his meticulously planned rampage.”
Prosecutors haven’t said what they believe led Rudakubana — who was days shy of his 18th birthday — to commit the atrocities, but Doyle said that it was clear he had a “a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence.”
Rudakubana had consistently refused to speak in court and did so once again when asked to identify himself at the start of the proceedings. But he broke his silence when he was read the 16-count indictment and asked to enter a plea, replying “guilty” to each charge.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and additional charges related to possessing the poison ricin and for having an al-Qaida manual.
Rudakubana faces life imprisonment when sentenced Thursday, Justice Julian Goose said.
Defense lawyer Stanley Reiz said that he would present information to the judge about Rudakubana's mental health that may be relevant to his sentence.
The surviving victims and family members of those killed were absent in court, because they had expected to arrive Tuesday for opening statements.
Goose asked the prosecutor to apologize on his behalf that they weren't present to hear Rudakubana plead guilty.
He pleaded guilty to murdering Alice Da Silva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6.
Eight other girls, ranging in age from 7 to 13, were wounded, along with instructor Leanne Lucas and John Hayes, who worked in a business next door and intervened. Fifteen other girls, as young as 5, were at the class but uninjured. Under a court order, none of the surviving girls can be named.
Hayes, who was stabbed and seriously wounded, said he still had flashbacks to the attack and was “hugely upset at the time that I wasn’t able to do more.”
“But I did what I could in the circumstances,” he told Sky News. “I’m grateful to be here, and by all accounts I’ll make a full recovery, at least physically. … I’m going to be OK and others won’t be, and that’s really where I I think the focus of attention should be.”
Police said the stabbings weren’t classified as acts of terrorism because the motive wasn’t known.
Several months after his arrest at the scene of the crime, Rudakubana was charged with additional counts for production of a biological toxin, ricin and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism for having the manual in a document on his computer.
Police said they found the evidence during a search of his family's home in a neighboring village.
The day after the killings — and shortly after a peaceful vigil for the victims — a violent group attacked a mosque near the crime scene and pelted police officers with bricks and bottles and set fire to police vehicles.
Rioting then spread to dozens of other towns over the next week when groups made up mostly of men mobilized by far-right activists on social media clashed with police during violent protests and attacked hotels housing migrants.
More than 1,200 people were arrested for the disorder and hundreds have been jailed for up to nine years in prison.
In this Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook, Southport stabbings suspect Axel Rudakubana appears on the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court, where he has pleaded guilty to killing three young girls and wounded 10 other people in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP)
People queue at Liverpool Crown Court in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 where Axel Rudakubana is charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.(AP Photo/Jon Super)
A prison van believed to contain Axel Rudakubana arrives at Liverpool Crown Court in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 where Rudakubana is charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.(AP Photo/Jon Super)
A prison van believed to contain Axel Rudakubana arrives at Liverpool Crown Court in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 where Rudakubana is charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.(AP Photo/Jon Super)
FILE - Police officers watch members of the public outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Aug. 5, 2024 after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club the week before. (AP Photo/Darren Staples, File)
FILE - Tributes are seen outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Aug. 5, 2024 after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club the week before. (AP Photo/Darren Staples, File)