The "worst" was to be feared after an accident at a depth of 900 meters in which three people were victims in a potash mine in Suria, in Catalonia (north-eastern Spain). The regional president confirmed Thursday the death of the three people trapped.
Asked by AFP, a spokesman for the regional police said that "official confirmation (of their death) will only come once the doctors have reached their level, certify that they are dead and have informed families. According to the firefighters, these three people found themselves "trapped about 900 meters deep".
"The information we have makes us fear the worst," Joan Ignasi Elena, head of the interior portfolio in the regional government, told reporters at the scene. He said that the firefighters were working to ensure the safety of the premises in order to "be able to access the place where the three employees are" victims of a "collapse" in the mine.
The region's president, Pere Aragonès, had earlier announced on Twitter "the death of the three miners" before deleting his tweet a few minutes later. Several Spanish media, citing sources within the emergency services intervening on the spot, already claimed that these three people died.
The accident took place shortly before 9 a.m. local time, said the regional police, who deployed specialized units to participate in the operation, including a canine unit. The regional emergency services said they had sent two medical helicopters and a team of psychologists to the scene.
Speaking of "terrible news", the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, expressed her "solidarity with the families and colleagues of the employees who were victims of a collapse in the Suria mine". Head of companies in the Catalan regional government, Roger Torrent, for his part, assured that the last control of the mine by the authorities took place "three weeks ago" and that "no irregularities" had been detected. detected.
This potash mine belongs to ICL Iberia, the Spanish subsidiary of the Israeli group ICL. On its website, this company based in Suria, a town about 80 km northwest of Barcelona, says it employs 1,100 people and is "the only company producing potassium salts in Spain". It has two mines in this area "which it says represent "one of the most important potash reserves in Western Europe".
Two miners died in an accident at the same Suria mine in December 2013 following a gallery collapse, according to local media. The most serious mining accident in Spain in recent years took place in October 2013. Six people died and five were injured due to a firedamp explosion at the Santa Lucía coal mine in the province of León ( North West). The trial of the company's leaders opened recently. In August 1995, fourteen people died following another gas explosion, in a mine in the Asturias region (North).
