On Thursday, 16 February, an old mine shaft collapsed in Lubków (Warta Bolesławiecka municipality), leaving a 200-metre-deep hole (50 metres to the water table; approximately 8 metres in diameter) on private property. Fortunately, no one was hurt. As mł. bryg. Piotr Pilarczyk, spokesperson for the County Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Bolesławiec, informed us, three people were evacuated from the danger zone.
The shaft was first secured and cordoned off with tape. Firefighters from Bolesławiec and volunteer firefighters from Warta Bolesławiecka, as well as rescuers from the Mining and Metallurgical Rescue Unit in Sobin, took part in the operation. The latter determined that the edges of the opening were reinforced, so there was no possibility of the hole beginning to widen. The matter was then handed over to the police, who secured the site until Friday morning.
The material filling the shaft was probably washed away by water. On 17 February, at the Kombinat’s request, a company specialising in this type of operation will secure the opening.
Updated 2017-02-17 13:18
“I am in close contact with representatives of the Lubin Mining Plants,” says istotne.pl Mirosław Haniszewski, who is monitoring the situation continuously. The most important step at this point, the mayor says, is securing the area: “We need to check whether there are other empty spaces in the ground near this shaft. Boreholes will be drilled by Monday at the latest. Director Andrzej Kowal of ZG Lubin assured me that they would do everything possible to eliminate the threat as a matter of urgency.”
What about the evacuated family? “On Thursday, I asked the fire service, police and mining rescuers whether the family could be allowed to return home. None of the services wanted to give unambiguous permission,” the mayor explains. “It is better to be safe than sorry. That is why we decided to arrange accommodation for the family. They certainly will not come to any harm; we will not leave them in the lurch.”
As we learned, Warta Municipality will pay for the three-person family’s stay, whether in a rented flat or a hotel. “It was a great stroke of luck,” Mirosław Haniszewski added, “that there was no one nearby when the shaft collapsed. Just moments earlier, the couple’s son had been playing there with the dog.”
We will return to this subject.