23 rescued after tourist mine elevator malfunction leaves 1 dead

CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. — A malfunctioning elevator at a former gold mine left one person dead and nearly two dozen people in need of rescuing.

The Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine elevator broke as it descended into the Colorado mine on Thursday, trapping some visitors underground for six hours, The Associated Press reported.

The first group of visitors were stuck halfway down the elevator shaft, about 500 feet down, when the elevator got stuck.

A separate group of 11 tourists and a tour guide were stuck about 1,000 feet below the surface in the mine, Reuters reported.

Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said it was a “severe danger for the participants.”

Engineers were able to fix the elevator and get everyone back up to the top, but crews had prepared to hoist each person up by rope if the lift wasn’t able to be repaired, the AP reported.

Rescue crews brought them up in groups of four, according to Reuters.

“Accidents happen when dealing with this kind of machinery,” Mikesell said, according to CNN. But the cause of the breakdown is under investigation.

Those who remained inside the mine were stuck in 50-degree temperatures for about six hours. They had water, blankets, chairs and a radio, but no bathroom facilities, CNN reported.

“They’re all in good spirits. We fed them pizza. That’s what they wanted,” Miksell said, according to Reuters.

In all, six people — two children and four adults — were injured and one person died, but officials did not say what caused the injuries or the death, CNN and the AP reported.

Mikesell said it was the last week of operation for the mine before it shut down for the season.

Tourist mines in the state must have daily inspections of the mines and the transportation systems, the state’s Division of Reclamation said, but Mikesell said he didn’t know when the last inspection at the Mollie Kathleen happened.

There had been one previous safety issue in the history of the tourist mine. People were trapped in the elevator in 1986, Reuters reported.

The mine was in operation from the late 1800s until 1961 but then turned into a tourist destination where visitors could “view gold veins in their natural state” after visitors “vertically descend 100 stories into the earth,” during the one-hour tour, the mine’s website said.

Mollie Kathleen Gortner discovered quartz containing gold at the site of the mine in 1891.

The mine was closed to tourists until further notice, the company’s website said.

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