World Courant
Yellow warning tape.
Impressed Designs | Istock | Getty Photographs
One individual was useless and 12 others had been trapped 1,000 toes underground Thursday after an elevator malfunction at a former Colorado gold mine that’s now a vacationer attraction, officers mentioned.
One other 11 folks had been rescued from the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine attraction in Cripple Creek, Colorado, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell instructed reporters.
Emergency employees tried to restore the elevator to return the 11 vacationers and a tour information who had been caught round midday (6 p.m. GMT), Mikesell mentioned.
Whereas one tour group was underground, the elevator skilled some type of mechanical failure whereas one other group on board was about midway down the mine shaft. This resulted in a single fatality, whereas 4 different folks suffered minor accidents, Mikesell mentioned, with out offering particulars on how the individual died.
That group was in a position to return to the floor by way of the elevator, which has since been out of use, the sheriff mentioned.
Rescuers had radio communication with the folks trapped beneath, and so they had water, blankets and chairs to maintain them comfy, Mikesell mentioned.
However they weren’t instructed anybody had died, solely that there was an issue with the elevator, the sheriff mentioned.
State engineers, mine security specialists and firefighters had been current.
Within the occasion the elevator can’t be safely repaired, firefighters had been getting ready for a rescue operation, however utilizing the elevator can be a lot safer, Mikesell mentioned.
“We are able to raise folks onto the ropes if we’ve to, however it additionally now exposes first responders to the menace and hazard that this poses,” Mikesell mentioned.
A family-owned firm has been conducting excursions of the mine, positioned about 110 miles south of Denver, for 50 years, with just one earlier, unspecified security incident in 1986, Mikesell mentioned.
One useless, twelve folks trapped deep underground within the Colorado mine vacationer attraction
World Information,Subsequent Large Factor in Public Knowledg
