A 42-year old miner lost his life after a gallery of the Lupeni coal mine in Western Romania collapsed on Wednesday morning, July 18.

Two miners were trapped underground as the gallery’s ceiling collapsed. One of them died while the other one was saved. The dead miner had been working for 21 years and had a wife and child, local Mediafax reported.

The Lupeni coal mine is part of the state-owned coal producer Compania Nationala a Huilei. Energy minister Anton Anton said that operations at this mine would be shut down by the end of this year. The Energy Ministry has re-notified the European Commission of its intention to close the mine and pay for the operations related to its complete closing by 2024.

Only two coal mines will remain open in the Jiului Valley coal basin starting next year. Before 1990, there were 15 operational coal mines in the area with over 90,000 miners.

Three miners injured, one dead in mine explosion in Romania

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: ISU Hunedoara on Facebook)