Gas leak at Spanish mine kills six

Six people were killed and four injured after a suspected methane gas leak at a coal mine in northern Spain.

The deaths occurred at the Santa Lucia coal mine near the town of Polo de Gordon, according to a spokesman for the regional government.

The four injured were taken to hospital in Leon, the regional capital. It is believed that there are still ten miners trapped in the mine. The civil guard reported that there was no explosion, and the probable cause of death was poisoning from a methane gas leak.

The mine is 694 m deep and is operated by the Basque Leon Coal Company. The last mining tragedy in Leon was in 1995 when a mine worker died and four others were seriously injured in a mine gas explosion.

The accident is the worst mining disaster in Spain for 18 years, according to state news agency Efe.

Edited from various sources by Katie Woodward

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/mining/29102013/gas_leak_at_spanish_mine_kills_six_198/