Slovenia mourns victims of coal mine accident

Ljubljana/Velenje/Šoštanj, 24 January - Slovenia is observing a national day of mourning on Friday for the three miners who died in an inrush of clay in the Velenje coal mine, the country's deadliest coal mining accident in more than two decades.

Velenje Candles and flowers in front of a statue of a miner in memory of the victims of an accident in the Velenje coal mine. Photo: Lili Pušnik/STA

Velenje
Candles and flowers in front of a statue of a miner in memory of the victims of an accident in the Velenje coal mine.
Photo: Lili Pušnik/STA

Flags on all state institutions will be at half mast today and the government has asked organisers of events around the country to adjust their programming.

In Velenje, warning sirens will go off for a minute at midday and again at 7:10pm, the hour when the accident happened on Monday.

At both times local officials will pay their respects to the dead miners at a monument to a miner at the city's central Tito Square.

A special commemoration will be held at the Velenje Culture House in the afternoon featuring local officials, senior government officials and employees of the coal mine.

All public events in Velenje have been cancelled off until Saturday, while neighbouring Šoštanj, the home of two of the deceased miners, will not hold any events through Sunday.

The three miners died when an estimated 700 cubic metres of clay collapsed on an extraction site 500 metres below ground. One body was recovered on the day of the accident and two were found two days later.

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