The Halemba coal mine is a large mine in the south of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in Halemba district of

Ruda Śląska Ruda Śląska (formerly ) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. It is a district in the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, a metropolis with a population of two million. It is in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica Rive ...

Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province ( pl, województwo śląskie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia ('), with Katowice serving as its capital. Despite the Silesian V ...

, 273 km south-west of the capital,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. Halemba represents one of the largest

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

reserves in

, having estimated reserves of 120 million tonnes of

. The annual coal production is around 3.36 million tonnes.

Explosion

In a mining explosion in November 2006, 23 miners died.https://pl.wikinews.org/wiki/2006-11-23:_W_kopalni_%22Halemba%22_zgin%C4%99%C5%82o_23_g%C3%B3rnik%C3%B3w,_prezydent_og%C5%82osi%C5%82_%C5%BCa%C5%82ob%C4%99_narodow%C4%85 A similar accident happened in 1990, when 19 miners died, and 20 were injured. The explosion happened 21 November, 16:30 Polish time, at depth 1030m. The rescue action was hindered due to high concentration of

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Ea ...

and high temperature. The cause of explosion was reported to be ignition of methane. Polish president

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010. Before his tenure as president, he pre ...

declared

national mourning A national day of mourning is a day or days marked by mourning and memorial activities observed among the majority of a country's populace. They are designated by the national government. Such days include those marking the death or funeral of ...

in Poland from 23 November to 25 November.

References

External links

Official site

encyklopedia-solidarnosci
{{Resources in Poland Buildings and structures in Ruda Śląska Coal mines in Silesian Voivodeship 1897 establishments in Poland

Explosion

See also

References

External links