Source: NBC 6 South Florida
Investigators on Friday were trying to figure out what led to an elevator accident inside a former Colorado gold mine that killed a tour guide, injured four others and left to separate group of 12 people trapped for hours at the bottom of the tourist attraction 1,000 feet beneath the surface.
The elevator was descending into the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine on Thursday in the mountains near Colorado Springs. At around 500 feet down, the person operating the elevator from the surface “felt something strange” and stopped it, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said. “We don’t know if the door malfunctioned or not or if something else occurred. There’s a lot that goes on in these little elevators,” he said. “We just know that the door was broken somehow.”
The man killed, Patrick Weier, 46, had a young child and was from the nearby town of Victor, Colorado. The exact circumstances of his death were not disclosed, but the sheriff said he died because of the elevator’s mechanical issue and not due to a medical issue.
Eleven other people, including two children, who were riding the elevator during the mishap were brought up with it following the accident. Four had minor injuries including back pain, neck pain and arm pain, the sheriff said.
Twelve adults from a second group were trapped below ground for about six hours while engineers made sure the elevator could be used.
The accident was under investigation by local and state authorities along with the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The mine’s owners issued a statement Friday expressing their condolences and thanking them for responding to emergencies. The mine will be closed until further notice, they said.
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