Two Polish miners died and three were
slightly injured when a coal mine in north-eastern Czech Republic in which they
were working suffered a seismic movement, the mining company's owner said
Sunday.
The movement occurred before midnight Saturday as 21 Polish miners were
extracting coal in the underground mine, which belongs to the country's largest
mining company OKD, said Vladimir Bystrov, a spokesman for OKD's parent company
New World Resources, dpa reported.
The causes of the jolt were not immediately known and an investigation
was under way, Bystrov said.
The dead miners, aged 39 and 46, were the first earth-tremor victims in OKD's
mines this year, he said. Five other people had so far died in the firm's mines
in 2008.
OKD operates coal mines in north-eastern Czech Republic and plans to expand to
a southern Polish mine of Debiensko. Its owner NWR listed its shares on the
Prague, Warsaw and London stock exchanges earlier this year.