CNN
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One person has died and 23 others have been rescued after becoming trapped hundreds of feet underground at the Molly Kathleen Gold Mine, a tourist mine in Cripple Creek, Colorado, authorities said Thursday.
Eleven people were rescued early Thursday, and more than a dozen people from out of state were trapped at the bottom of the 1,000-foot-deep mine for about six hours before being rescued Thursday night.
“I am relieved that the 12 people trapped in the Molly Kathleen Mine have been safely rescued. My deepest condolences go out to the families and friends of those who lost their lives in this incident,” Colorado Governor Jared Polis said Thursday night. said in a statement.
Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said two of the people rescued were children and four were treated by medical personnel for minor injuries, but he did not provide details on the fatalities.
Around noon Thursday, the mine experienced a mechanical problem with its elevator system, posing “serious danger to participants,” Mikesell said at a news conference. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
The 12 people were trapped in temperatures around 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) with water, blankets, chairs and a radio, Mikesell said. However, according to the tour’s website, toilets and other facilities were not available underground.
“We are very pleased to hear that all 12 people still inside the Molly Kathleen Gold Mine were safely extricated,” the Colorado Springs Fire Department said in a social media post Thursday night. “We are grateful for the work of all the first responders who ensured the safety of those still inside. Our thoughts go out to the families who lost their loved ones tonight. Please keep them in your prayers.”
Mikesell said the bodies of the deceased had been recovered when the first group was pulled up in an elevator after becoming stuck halfway up the mountain at an altitude of 500 feet.
To rescue the last group, inspectors worked to make sure the elevator was working properly and could carry four people at a time, Mikesell said.
“We had a briefing with them and explained what was going on, because they were in this tunnel and didn’t know something like this was happening,” Mike Sell said. he said.
Mikesell said the last accident at the mine, which has been a family-run tourist attraction for “more than 50 years,” was in 1986. Two people were trapped in the elevator, but no fatalities were reported.
The hour-long tour through an 1890s gold mine is a completely underground experience that is “not claustrophobic, but the descent down the mineshaft is very close (two minutes each way),” the tour’s website states. has been.
According to the website, guests exit the elevator at a speed of about 8 miles per hour, then take a short ride in a subway car, followed by a 400-meter flat, flat walk that explains how gold mining is done. I will. Guests are provided with helmets and asked to leave personal items, such as walkers and wheelchairs, for the duration of the tour.
The attraction was scheduled to close for the season this weekend and reopen in May.
