Firefighters tackle blaze at Polish mine
22 May 2021, 14:54
The facility in Belchatow is home to the country’s largest brown coal mine.
Firefighters in central Poland say 13 units are fighting a blaze on a conveyer belt at Poland’s largest brown coal mine in Belchatow.
The fire broke out at midday on Saturday and sent huge clouds of black smoke over the area, which also includes Poland’s largest lignite power plant.
A spokesman for the firefighters in Lodz region, Jedrzej Pawlak, said there were no reports of casualties. He said the fire was brought under control but is not out yet.
The neighbouring power plant, which suffered an automated outage in a separate incident on Monday, was not affected.
The fire came a day after top European Union court ordered Poland to immediately halt operations at another lignite mine in Turow, on the Czech and German border, that belongs to the same state energy company PGE.
Coal makes up 65% of Poland’s energy sources, including 17% from lignite.
