2 miners killed, 1 injured during Polish copper mine cave-in

WARSAW, Poland – Two miners have been killed and another seriously injured during a cave-in at a copper and silver mine in southwestern Poland, a spokeswoman for the partly state-owned KGHM copper mining corporation said Saturday.

Jolanta Piatek said the accident happened Friday night at the Polkowice-Sieroszowice mine when part of a ceiling collapsed on the working miners. The injured miner has been hospitalized.

The accident raises to six the number of fatalities this year in KGHM’s mines and copper mills in Poland. In 2013, 19 miners trapped in the Rudna mine following a local tremor and a cave-in were rescued with no major injuries.

KGHM, known as the Polish State Mining and Metallurgical Combine under communism, went through restructuring and partial privatization in 1991 as Poland shifted to a market economy. It has grown to be one of the world’s major copper and silver producers. It also has mines in Chile, Canada and the United States.

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