Bodies of two divers missing in Maria Concordia mine found

Firefighters have recovered the bodies of two divers who went missing yesterday at the Maria Concordia mine. The search for a third person who took part in the dive is still ongoing.

The search for the three missing divers who were diving at the Maria Concordia mine resumed on Monday, 4 October. Very poor visibility, as yesterday, severely hampered the rescuers in their operations.

-- Advertisement --

News emerged at around 12pm that the bodies of two of the three wanted divers had been found. The search for the third man is still ongoing. Rescue divers from the fire brigade are planning to re-enter the water at around 1 p.m. Although due to poor visibility conditions are still very difficult.

Course of events

Missing divers conducted an exploration of the flooded Maria Concordia mine in Sobótka yesterday. A total of six people took part in the dive. Unfortunately, only four participants emerged from the water as planned. At that moment, one of the men took an extra cylinder and set off to rescue the two remaining in the water.

In parallel, at around 14:00, the other participants in the dive notified the emergency services. Firefighters from a specialised water, d iving and altitude group arrived on site. Unfortunately, as the aforementioned very poor visibility persisted, it was impossible to take action in the flooded mine. A remote-controlled robot was therefore dispatched to the site.

Unfortunately, on Sunday it was not possible to take action in the flooded tunnels of the mine. The search operation resumed on Monday morning. In the afternoon, the fire brigade announced that the bodies of the two missing divers had been found. Further operations are currently underway.

The six men who led the exploration of the flooded Mara Concordia mine were described by the fire service press officer as experienced cave divers. They were on site to hone their skills in this type of exploration.

Radio Wrocław also reported that police have launched an investigation into the death of the divers. Police officers are to investigate the legality of the exploration and whether the facility was permitted for this type of activity.

We will be checking whether the facility was permitted to carry out this type of activity and whether the people had the appropriate authorisation. We are, of course, establishing all this from a procedural point of view. We are also waiting until the appropriate services have safely retrieved the bodies. Then, we will begin the actions, among others, with the participation of forensic technicians. – said sergeant Krzysztof Marcjan to Radio Wroclaw.

Photo: Specialised Rescue Group of Old Town Fire Brigade