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The activity of the Uricani underground mine in Jiului Valley was suspended after the labour accident that occurred Monday morning, the 56 miners who were underground at the time of the blast being brought to surface, Energy Minister Toma Petcu stated at Uricani.
He explained that experts are already investigating the work areas underground and the activity will resume when their safety will be certified. The Minister said that the first data do not indicate an explosion in the underground but a gas firing and the causes which generated this event will be looked into. "It is important to specify that all miners were carrying protection equipment, including measuring devices for gas concentration in the mine. (...) The miners affected by the blast were in a concrete, protected area were closing works and a protection dam were being carried out. It was not an area crossed by an electric cable that might have triggered that ignition, that is why we are looking forward to the ITM [Hunedoara Territorial Labour Inspectorate - ed.n.] investigation to find out the source of the ignition, firstly, and where the gas came from, " the Energy Minister further said.
As regards the two rescuers who were intoxicated with gas during the evacuation to the surface of the miner who passed away underground, they received treatment at Petrosani hospital and were discharged with their agreement because they presented mild forms of intoxication. The other three miners with burns of 8 to 50 percent of the body surface were rushed to hospitals in Bucharest with a helicopter.
"Two of the miners had third degree burns on almost 50 pct of the body surface, and the third one suffers from milder burns," Minister Toma Petcu said.
