Rush to seal 6 shafts in burning underground coal mine

Authorities are racing to seal at least six shafts at the Grosvenor coal mine near Moranbah in central Queensland as a fire burns underground.

Transcript

00:00Plumes of smoke continued to billow behind me from the mine as authorities raced to seal

00:07at least six shafts at the burning Grosvenor coal mine in central Queensland.

00:13The inferno at Queensland's largest underground coal mine near Moorumbar is now in its fourth

00:19day.

00:21Methane gas ignited the underground blaze at the weekend, all workers were safely evacuated

00:27from the site which remains closed.

00:30Minor Anglo-American says positive steps have been taken overnight in the sealing process.

00:38The company says it's also working closely with local council to keep the close-knit

00:44community informed of the potential impact from smoke.

00:49The latest incident has triggered memories in the mining town of a similar methane explosion

00:55at the mine four years ago which left five workers severely burned.

01:01Specialist crews are working around the clock and face a complex and difficult task working

01:07with an unstable, hostile mine atmosphere.

01:11Anglo says there will be a time and place to turn its attention to investigating the

01:16source of the ignition.

01:19Right now the priority is sealing the mine as the community braces for further impacts

01:25with the future of the mine up in the air.