One person is dead and 23 more have been rescued and are safe following an accident at a gold mine in Colorado.
An equipment malfunction involving an elevator system was reported Thursday afternoon at the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine in Cripple Creek. Twenty-three people who were on the tour got stuck when the malfunction happened. Eleven of them were 500-feet down and they were brought out using a trolley. One died in what the Teller County sheriff calls a tragic accident. The other group of 12 spent six hours trapped one-thousand feet underground until crews could bring them up safely.
Two of those rescued were children, with four people seen for minor health care. Cripple Creek is roughly two hours south of Denver.
An investigation is underway into the cause of the malfunction.
[ photo: Teller County Sheriff’s Office – Facebook ]
