Two killed in underground explosion at Polish coal mine

WARSAW, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Two workers were killed due to an outburst of methane and rock masses at the Pniowek coal mine in southern Poland, owner JSW said on Monday evening.

The company said that after 5 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Monday, a large amount of methane was released at the Pniowek mine, where a high-performance roadheader was operating with 10 workers underground.

Eight managed to evacuate on their own, while contact with two others was lost, JSW said. After a seven-hour rescue operation, teams located the missing miners who were pronounced dead at the scene by a doctor, the company said.

On Tuesday morning, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk offered condolences to the victims' families on X, while President Karol Nawrocki said he received the news of the miners' deaths "with great sorrow".

Polish Press Agency (PAP) said that the deaths were the 14th and 15th fatalities in mining accidents in Poland this year, and the 11th and 12th in hard coal mines. The Pniowek mine is among the country's operations with the highest methane risk, PAP reported.

(Reporting by Barbara Erling; Editing by Jamie Freed)