Rescuers have located the body of the sixth of seven miners missing since a deadly blast hit the Pniowek mine in southern Poland in April last year, a spokesperson for the owner of the mine said on Wednesday.

Tomasz Siemieniec, a spokesman for Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa (JSW), said on Wednesday that six of the missing miners had now been found.

“Preparations are currently underway to transport the miner to the surface,” he said, adding that rescuers were continuing their efforts to find the last missing miner.

The operation was being hampered by high temperatures, exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, but other parameters in the penetrated area were normal and there was no risk of further methane explosions.

The bodies of five other missing miners found on Monday have already been transported to the surface. The colliers were killed by a methane gas explosion as they were attempting to reach miners who were injured in the initial blast.

Sixteen miners and rescuers lost their lives when a series of methane explosions rocked the mine in the southern town of Pawlowice on April 20, 2022.

Out of 42 colliers working in the area at the time of the blast, 21 required hospital treatment with most of them suffering from burns. Attempts to rescue the seven miners trapped below ground were abandoned due to further methane blasts.