One worker killed, five others injured in explosion at coking plant in Poland
30 September 2022
An explosion at a coking plant in southern Poland killed one person and injured five others on September 22. The incident happened at a plant operated by mining company JSW located in Dabrowa Gornicza. The explosion led to the collapse of a building and the partial collapse of another.
Image: JSW
JSW said that firefighters were called to the Koksownia Przyjazn plant at around 13:00 local time. A statement said that the explosion originated in a “coal grinding technology building” which completely collapsed as a result of the blast.
Initially, six people were injured in the blast, comprising three JSW employees and three contractors. All six were taken to local hospitals with two JSW employees reported to be in serious conditions. One of those two employees was placed in a medically induced coma, but died on September 29 as a result of their injuries.
The four other employees were all discharged from hospital with minor injuries after a short time. JSW said it had put together a crisis team and a commission to determine the cause of the explosion.
Despite the explosion, JSW said that work at the factory would continue. While production had slowed, clean-up of the affected area had started immediately which meant that the impact on the plant’s production was minimal, JSW added.
The explosion comes just a few months after two methane explosions in the span of a week killed a total of 11 people at JSW two mines. The incidents in April also left over 25 workers injured. The explosion led to a week-long search and rescue effort to find missing miners, however all missing miners were confirmed to have died.
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