Missing Polish coal miner found alive more than two days after an earthquake

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A miner who went missing after an earthquake shook Poland's Rydultowy coal mine has been found alive more than two days after the accident that killed one and injured 17 other workers, local officials said Saturday.

The office of the provincial governor of the Silesia coal mining region, in southern Poland, said that the miner was conscious and was being transported to the surface. An air ambulance was waiting at the colliery's gate.

“This is fantastic news,” provincial governor, Marek Wojcik, said on TVN24.

The head of the Polish Coal Mining Group that operates the mine, Leszek Pietraszek, said that rescuers reached the 32-year-old miner around 2 p.m. Saturday. He was conscious and communicating, but had some problems breathing. He received first aid from a doctor who also prepared him for transportation to the surface.

Seventy-eight miners were in the area when a magnitude 3.1 tremor struck about 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) below the surface on Thursday afternoon.

The tremor caused an ejection of rocks into the corridor at one spot, where the miner was found Saturday.