Trapped visitors ‘never panicked’ during Colorado gold mine tragedy that killed tour guide
The man who died when a Colorado gold mine elevator malfunctioned this week has bee🌠n ide🦩ntified as a tour guide — while one of the visitors who was trapped underground for hours said the group never “panicked” as first engineers raced to rescue them.
Patrick Weier, 46, was working as a guid🦋e at Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine near Cripple Cr🧜eek when the “very tragic accident” occurred Thursday, according to Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell.
The exact cause of Weier’s death was not immediately revealed, but authorities said they believed it was r🍬e🔯lated to the elevator glitch as opposed to a medical episode.
W♔eier, who lived in nearby Victor, left behind a 7-year-old so꧃n.
T𝓰he dad of one was on board the elevator when it experienced a mechanical iss💙ue at about 500 feet deep.
The🔯 ඣelevator was still working, and those on board were brought back to the surface within about 20 minutes, according to Mikesell.
A door on the elevator was broken whe♛n it was raised, and four other people suffered minor injuries.
The group of 11 included two children.
“We don’t know if the door malfunctioned o💖r not or if something else occurred. There’s a lot that goes on in these little elevators,” Mikesell said.
“We just know that the door was broken somehow.”
A second💟 group of 12 adults were trapped below gro🅷und for about six hours while engineers scrambled to make the elevator workable again.
One of the visitors, Rhonda Pulse, said the groupไ stayed relatively calm d🉐uring their long wait.
“I am really💧 pleased with the way the Teller Couꦅnty Sheriff’s Department handled things. They could’ve told us, but that would’ve just caused panic. There’s no need. There was nothing we can do about it,” .
“We were inconvenienced. We were uncomfortable, but we weren’t …. We were blissfully unaware. We got hungry. We got kind of cold,” she added.
ꦦ“It was uncomfortable, but we were never panicked or afraid, at least no one ever visibly said are we ever going to get out of here or can we get out type of thing.”
The group was “so grateful” for the responsᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚe from the first responders, Pulse said.
The visitors were eventually hoisted up💜 in groups of ❀four over a 30-minute period.
The elevator accident is now under investigation by local and state authorities, as well as the US Mine Safety and Health Administrati🔯on and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Colorado had some safety inspectio🎃ns at the mine, and an OSHA official was at theﷺ scene after the accident Thursday, Miskell said.
The elevator had p𝔍reviously passed💧 safety tests, he added.
In a statement issued on Frid🌳ay, the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine expressed its condolences for Weier’s family and thanked the emergency personnel.
The mine will be closed until further notice.
With Post wires
