Mine accident in the Unterbreizbach shaft
The mining accident in the Unterbreizbach shaft occurred on October 1, 2013 in shaft II of the Unterbreizbach potash mine in the Wartburg district operated by Kassel K + S AG . In the mine accident , a carbonic acid eruption occurred after an extraction blast , whereby three miners were killed underground from carbon dioxide poisoning.
background
The Unterbreizbach potash plant is part of the K + S Werra plant . The plant, in addition to the Hessian works Hattorf and Wintershall part of the K + S-Werra plant, is divided into the shaft I in Unterbreizbach with the adjacent stationary processing plant and the shaft II, located close to the Unterbreizbacher district Mühlwärts directly on the national road 84 between the localities Sünna and Buttlar is located.
Course of the accident
After the routine extraction blast at a depth of 900 meters, large amounts of carbon dioxide were released around 1 p.m. Gas and salt dust spread explosively in floors and shafts and rose to the surface. Seven miners who were supposed to explore the pit after the blast before the start of the next shift were trapped by the gas at a depth of 700 meters. The Unterbreizbach mine and the Merkers adventure mine as well as the surface areas of the shafts I and II were evacuated as a precaution and the nearby federal road 84 temporarily closed. Four miners could be rescued, three miners aged 24, 50 and 56 years were found dead several kilometers from the site of the gas eruption near the shaft entrance in the evening. According to a company spokesman, there was no danger to the surrounding villages from the gas outbreak.
Reactions
The public prosecutor's office in Meiningen and the responsible Thuringian State Mining Office started investigations into the course of the accident. Thuringia's Environment Minister Jürgen Reinholz visited the site of the accident on the same day. Thuringia's Prime Minister Christine Lieberknecht expressed her condolences to the bereaved of the victims and announced the organization of a memorial service for the victims, which was held in the presence of Lieberknecht on October 8, 2013 in Unterbreizbach. Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her condolences for the mine accident and its victims in a video message on October 12, 2013, and agreed to give occupational safety even greater importance in the future. Should security gaps become apparent during the investigations into the accident, these would be eliminated in the future. In its session on October 16, 2013, the Thuringian state parliament remembered the dead with a minute's silence . The Unterbreizbach mine remained closed until the beginning of November 2013 due to the carbon dioxide still present in the shaft.
Legal processing
The prosecution's investigations were initially concluded at the end of 2014 without anyone being held criminally responsible. In the opinion of the public prosecutor, none of the responsible persons could be proven to be at fault under criminal law and, in particular, it was not foreseeable for any of the responsible persons that a gas release of this magnitude and intensity would occur. In the spring of 2018, the public prosecutor's office resumed the investigation based on new information and commissioned an expert report, which was presented in early February 2019. According to this, it cannot be ruled out that those responsible might have behaved "criminally relevant".
Similar incidents
A carbon dioxide outbreak in the Merkers mine in 1938 claimed 11 lives. With gas eruptions in the shaft Menzengraben in 1953 and 1958 three and six people died.
Individual evidence
- ↑ www.kali-gmbh.com
- ↑ From HNA.de of October 8, 2013: Funeral service for miners: "Preserve honorable memory"
- ↑ Merkel guarantees miners health and safety after a mine accident. In: Thuringian General. October 13, 2013, accessed October 15, 2013 .
- ↑ Members of the Thuringian State Parliament mourn the dead potash miners , accessed on October 19, 2013
- ^ Unterbreizbach promotes salt again , Thüringer Allgemeine from November 11, 2013
- ↑ Public prosecutor's office concludes investigations ( memento of the original dated December 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , MDR.de, accessed on December 30, 2014
- ↑ New Guatachten on the potash accident , in: Südthüringer Zeitung of February 6, 2019
- ↑ Ilga Gäbler: Three who experienced the gas accident. May 24, 2013. Retrieved October 5, 2013 .
Web links
- Three miners die in a gas eruption in a potash mine
- Miners died from carbon dioxide poisoning
- A misfortune out of nowhere
Coordinates: 50 ° 46 ′ 50.2 " N , 9 ° 58 ′ 47.5" E