Trapped Welsh miners rescue operation – live coverage

• One miner reported dead • Divers forced to turn back from mine because of debris • Local MP Peter Hain says situation is “grim” 9.52am: The twittersphere is full of messages of sympathy and support for the miner who has been discovered dead at Gleision colliery. @Ceri_Granv writes: Terrible news from the Swansea Valley this morning. All my thoughts are with the miners and their families at Gleision Colliery. @welsh37 posts: Sad day one of the swansea miners has died, my thoughts are with their family. @alicat21 writes: Thoughts with the miners families. They must be experiencing a living hell. Tragic . 9.31am: Messages of sympathy from local MP Peter Hain and also the current Welsh secretary over the death of one miner who has yet to be identified. Hain who is at the scene said: I’ve spoken to the families – they’ve gone through a small hell. What’s been made worse, as has been reported, a miner has been found dead but they don’t know who it is so you can just imagine what they are going through. It is almost worse than not knowing – knowing a bit but not knowing exactly and our hearts go out to everybody. Sky news has reported that David Cameron has rung Hain to ensure that the rescue teams are getting everything they need to free the remaining three miners. Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan has also offered her condolences: I am extremely saddened to hear that one of the miners has been found dead. My heartfelt condolences go out to the families at this distressing time. I know that the emergency services have been working extremely hard. I am being continually updated and my thoughts are with all involved as they continue to manage this most difficult situation. 9.11am: More from that press conference. Chris Margetts, from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said this about the circumstances of the dead miner and where he was found. The search and rescue continues. Obviously we’ve had the disappointing news of discovering one of the miners [dead]. The miner that we found was in a different section of the mine. He was basically on the exit side on the body of water. So therefore the search and rescue mission continues because there are still air pockets on the other side of the body of water and there is a blockage down there yet to be searched. So it is quite possible under the circumstances that as the incident has occurred, the team has split. And depending on where they were located, which is the best route to take and the miner we have found so far has obviously tried to make it up to the main exit where two the guys did make it out and unfortunately he hasn’t made it. 9.07am: Speaking to the Today programme, Gary Evans of the south and mid Wales cave rescue team described the situation down in the mines for the divers attempting to get to the three trapped miners. He said he had been working until 2:30 this morning and his description gives a flavour of how difficult the rescue is. These divers are amazing in what they can do. They were travelling in zero visibility and they made progress without any real difficulty but it was the debris in the water that prevented them from gaining further access to the tunnel….they couldn’t get beyond the flooded section Really the things about the mines is there is not a lot of room down there. And all the emphasis in about pumping that water out. Right now it is very noisy there’s people back and forward trying to make sure the pumps are working and certainly the conditions I was in it was very difficult, pitch black water, very cold. So not a great place to be working but there is a job to be done there. 8.59am: A police press conference has revealed that one miner has been found dead. Police do not yet now the identity of the body. Superintendent Phil Davies told reporters at the scene: “A miner has been found. He is deceased. We are not in a current position to recover him from the mine and therefore we don’t know the identity of that person. “This is a dynamic, ongoing search and rescue operation and all emergency services are working hard to get all the miners out of there as soon as possible.” 8.55am: Good morning. Welcome to our live blog of the rescue operation to save four miners who are currently trapped in a Welsh mine after flood waters broke through to the mine system from an old abandoned shaft. • One miner has been reported as dead. • The incident began on Thursday morning and the trapped miners have been named as Phillip Hill, 45, from Neath, Charles Bresnan, 62, David Powell, 50, and Garry Jenkins, 39, all from Swansea valley. • Last night divers had to abandon their efforts after about 30 metres due to the hazardous conditions of the water. • Local MP Peter Hain and shadow Welsh minster said “The fact that they have been trapped for so long is very, very disturbing,” he said. • We are expecting a news conference shortly. Wales Mining Shiv Malik guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 16, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.