Fire drama at Navan mine

An underground fire at Tara Mines left one miner in hospital at the weekend and saw a major rescue swing into operation at the Navan facility.
A ‘significant incident investigation’ has been launched after the incident, which occurred on Saturday morning.
Tara’s Mine Rescue Team immediately responded when the fire broke out at 11.35am on Saturday and the Air Corp were contacted to fly the Mine Rescue Team from Lisheen Mine in Co Tipperary to the Navan facility to assist the local operation.
Miners on duty had to remain underground at their nearest refuge stations for over nine hours -  until 9pm that night when the blaze was extinguished.
During that time, a search was launched for a missing miner who initially raised the fire alarm when the machine he was working on caught fire.
He was found by the rescue teams at 2.10pm and subsequently taken to Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan. He was then transferred to Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda where he was released on Sunday.
Two other miners were taken to hospital for precautionary observation, but were discharged later that day.
The fire broke out 300m below ground level in a machine that is used to spray concrete onto the roof and walls to reinforce them.
The mine has since contacted all relevant authorities and an investigation has been launched.