Fear of a second gas explosion was slowing efforts Wednesday to find 15 coal miners missing a kilometer (3,300 feet) below ground after a blast that killed at least eight of their colleagues. The Tuesday afternoon explosion came as the men, aged between 21 and 59, were retrieving equipment from a section of the Halemba mine where it had been abandoned because of dangerously high gas concentrations. Grzegorz Pawlaszek, head of the state-owned Coal Co., said rescue teams had recovered seven bodies from the scene of the blast in the southern city of Ruda Slaska. Another body had been located but could not be reached because the high concentration of methane gas meant there was the risk of another explosion, the Associated Press reported. He said the fate of the other 15 was «not known.»
