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A rescue mission continues for a miner who remains trapped after his colleague was freed from a mine collapse at Ballarat in Victoria’s Goldfields.
The pair were pinned by falling rocks at the Mount Clear mine on Wednesday afternoon.
Police and paramedics managed to stabilize and extract one of the men at around 8.30pm.
He was treated for lower body injuries and taken to hospital in serious condition.
Rescuers are still trying to reach the other trapped worker, who is stuck 500 meters underground and three kilometers from the entrance, to see how he is doing
A rescue mission continues for a miner who remains trapped after his colleague was freed from a mine collapse at Ballarat in Victoria’s Goldfields.
The pair were pinned by falling rocks at the Mount Clear mine on Wednesday afternoon.
25 other miners who had been able to take refuge in a containment pod after the collapse were successfully brought to the surface a short time later.
The incident took place about 3 km underground from the entrance to the mine.
The mine’s owners Victory Mineral has released a statement saying its emergency response team is working closely with Victoria Police and other authorities.
‘Right now our priority is the safety and well-being of our miners and their families. We would like to assure the community that we are working as quickly and as safely as we can to help bring this worker to the surface,” the statement said.
Victory Minerals assumed operational control of the Ballarat gold mine in December 2023.
‘We bring considerable experience and expertise to the mine. We are a safety-led mine operator and respect the work that underground miners do every day,” the statement said.
The mine’s website states that it has an extensive network of tunnels and operates deep beneath buildings, streets and homes.
In 2007, 27 miners were trapped underground at the mine for several hours before being pulled to safety.
Ballarat Gold Mine declined to comment.
The suburb of Mount Clear was also the focus of the search for mother-of-three Samantha Murphy, but there is no indication of a link.
22-year-old Patrick Orren Stephenson has been charged with murdering Mrs Murphy at Mount Clear.