A Colorado mine was inspected and declared safe six weeks before a malfunction killed a tour guide and stranded 23 people underground after the mine’s elevator malfunctioned last week.
The Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety sent a cease and desist letter to Mollie Kathleen tourist mine near Cripple Creek on Wednesday, ordering its owners to halt tours and restrict all public access to the mine, with exception to law enforcement and other agencies investigating the fatal incident.
A message posted on Mollie Kathleen’s website after the incident said the mine “will be closed until further notice.” The mine, which isn’t open year-round, was scheduled to end tours for the season shortly after the incident.
Twenty-three people became trapped, some of whom waited 1,000 feet underground for six hours, after the elevator system failed Oct. 10, the Teller County Sheriff’s Office said. One of the mine’s tour guides, Patrick Weier, died while he was on the elevator when there was a mechanical issue with the elevator’s doors about 500 feet below the ground, the sheriff said, but few additional details have been released to explain his death.
Four of the people who were on the elevator when it malfunctioned were injured and had back, neck or arm pain, the sheriff said.
A state expert on scene made sure the elevator could be used to remove the remaining people stranded 1,000 people underground and they were rescued about 6:30 p.m.
Before the incident, inspection reports for the Mollie Kathleen Mine were “satisfactory” and inspectors found no violations or hazards, including during the most recent inspection Aug. 29, the state’s Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety said. The mine, about 50 miles west of Colorado Springs, is the only Colorado tourist mine with an elevator.
The state is required to inspect the mine on a yearly basis and mine operators of tourist mines are required to conduct daily inspections that must be made available for state inspectors to review.
The Teller County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incident with federal inspectors from the U.S. Occupational and Safety Health Administration. The state will also continue to evaluate the mine to see if it is in compliance with state regulations, the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety said.
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