"29 coal miners rescued in Bosnia" Associated Press September 06, 2014
ZENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Exhausted, dusty, but happy to be alive, 29 miners were pulled out one by one Friday from a trouble-plagued coal mine that collapsed a day earlier in central Bosnia. They left behind five men, presumed dead, under rubble deep underground and beyond the reach of rescuers.
Emergency workers had dug through more than 330 feet of collapsed mine tunnels to reach the trapped men.
Families of those who were left behind broke down in tears as authorities closed the pit entrance.
‘‘We could not reach that group of people,’’ rescue worker Amir Arnaut said. ‘‘We could only reach the first group.’’
Officials said that an investigation will be launched to determine the cause of the accident, but they suggested it was linked to a 3.5 magnitude earthquake that hit the town of Zenica Thursday afternoon, Bosnia’s seismologists said. The tremor caused a pressure burst and a gas blast that collapsed the mine, officials said.
It was the third incident at the Zenica pits this year, underscoring the vulnerability of the mines in Bosnia and elsewhere in the Balkans, which are generally poorly secured and where miners work with outdated equipment.
Twenty-six miners were taken to a hospital, six of them badly hurt, but none suffered life-threatening injuries, doctors said.
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MONDAY UPDATE:
"2 dead in Slovenia floods, Croatia also hit hard | Associated Press September 15, 2014
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — Two people died in Slovenia after floods triggered by a weekend of heavy rains hit the Balkans, officials said Sunday.
Police said a 30-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl drowned after their van plunged into a flood-swollen stream northeast of the capital, Ljubljana. Surging waters have caused landslides and flooded hundreds of buildings and roads.
In neighboring Croatia, hundreds of soldiers joined emergency crews in putting up barriers to prevent the bulging rivers from overflowing.
About 2,000 people were taken out of their homes Saturday around the central town of Karlovac, where hundreds moved to upper floors of their flooded homes. Dozens of houses also have been flooded in Bosnia.
More than 50 people died in record floods in the Balkans in May. In Pakistan’s Punjab province, flooding sank a boat carrying a wedding party, killing the bridegroom and 17 others.
I will soon be flooding you with some Pakistan items.
Police said the boat carrying more than 30 people capsized when it hit debris from a dike that had been blown up earlier in the day to divert waters away from urban areas. One of the dead was an army officer who drowned while helping in rescue efforts.
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