Fifth miner declared dead in Pniowek mine accident

Andrzej Grygiel/PAP

The death toll from the methane blasts at the Pniowek mine has climbed to six after a fifth miner, who was being treated at the Burn Treatment Centre in Siemianowice Slaskie, southern Poland, died on Sunday night.

The 31-year old patient had severe burns to 90 percent of his body including third degree burns to the respiratory tract, the hospital said.

Last Wednesday, four miners and a rescuer lost their lives when a series of methane explosions rocked the Pniowek coal mine in Pawlowice, southern Poland, as 42 miners were working on a night shift.

Twenty-one miners were then transferred to hospitals, most of them with burns to the respiratory tract.

On Friday, attempts to rescue seven miners trapped below ground at the colliery were abandoned, after new blasts in the mine.