At least one person was killed and four others were injured after an equipment failure trapped nearly 20 people underground at a Colorado tourist mine, the Teller County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday.
The Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that all 23 people trapped in the Molly Kathleen mine were rescued.
Officials said it was unclear how one person died. Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said at an evening news conference that the death was a “tragic accident” caused by a malfunctioning elevator.
He said a thorough investigation would be needed to determine what happened.
“Accidents happen when you work with this type of machinery,” Mikesell said.
Officials said a rescue operation was launched around noon Thursday after reports of problems with the elevator.
According to the sheriff’s office, there were 11 people in the elevator at the time, including two children.
“As a result, one person lost his life and four others sustained minor injuries,” the sheriff’s office announced in an update Friday morning. “The elevator was able to bring those 11 people back to the ground.”
The four injured were treated, officials said, adding that the children were not injured.
Another group of “12 tourists and an experienced guide” was on a tour at the 1,000-foot level. Officials said they had water and blankets and were in contact with response forces.
The group was brought back to ground level in two elevator flights, starting just after 6 p.m. and ending an hour later, the sheriff’s office said. All 12 people in that group were uninjured.
The sheriff’s office said some of the 11 people rescued complained of neck and back pain, while others suffered trauma. Mikesell said there were no injuries among the 12 people who took part in the second round of rescue operations.
Mikesell said authorities are trying to contact the families of the deceased who were rescued in the first rescue.
The group of 12 people, all adults from out of state, were trapped in the mine for about six hours. They “came up very safely,” four at a time, Mikesell said, adding that everyone was “in good spirits.” –
Mr Mikesell said the mine’s owners had “worked hard” to ensure the equipment was able to get everyone back on the ground.
Mikesell said the first group was trapped in an elevator that stopped midway down the hoistway. When it finally reached the surface, engineers inspected it to make sure there were no other problems.
Mikesell said he was able to get the elevator down safely and put it back up with no one on board, and decided to use the elevator to rescue the remaining people.
Mikesell said rescuers simply told people there was a problem with the elevator, and those who were rescued were thankful they didn’t have to know more.
Sheriff’s officials earlier clarified that the mine did not collapse and that the incident was the result of equipment failure.
Officials said the last incident at the mine was in 1986. No one was killed in the incident, but people were also trapped in the elevator at that time, Mikesell said.
Teller County is just 100 miles south of Denver.
Gov. Jared Polis said he was “relieved” the 12 people who were trapped were safely rescued and offered his condolences to the friends and family of one of the people who died.
Polis also thanked Mikesell and the rest of the rescue team for their “quick response and tireless efforts.”
“Thanks to this collaborative effort, each of these people will be able to return home safely,” Polis said.
Mikesell said Polis sent “as many personnel as necessary” to assist in the rescue effort, including inspectors and mine safety workers to ensure the broken elevator was working properly. Ta. He added that by working with first responders, “we were able to put together an effective plan, and that plan was to get them out through the elevator system.”
The mine was scheduled to close Sunday for the season, according to its website. Mikesell said the mine was closed Thursday night, but he expects operations to resume next season.
The website says it offers a one-hour tour that allows visitors to “descend vertically 100 floors underground” and “witness the evolution of above-ground mining.”
