One Dead after Bulgaria Mine Collapse

A worker has died after the Erma Reka mine collapsed in Southern Bulgaria, the public broadcaster BNT reports.

Another has been injured in the incident that occurred Wednesday night.

Zarko Hadzhiev, Mayor of the adjacent Erma Reka village, told the Bulgarian National Radio on Thursday that the victim as an excavator, and not a miner.

Kiro Minchev, 49, "had loaded [the rubble onto the excavator] when an exlosion squeezed him between the wagons and he died instantly."

The wounded worker was pulled out by rescuers late on Wednesday after having been trapped in piles of ore for several hours.

The incident took place in the Erma Reka mine's Androvo gallery, some 300 m beneath the surface.