Mine accident leaves 1 dead and 4 hurt, sheriff says

One person was killed and four others were injured Thursday during a tour at Colorado's Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said. A rescue operation that lasted a half a day to bring other tour participants out of the mine was successful.

At 7:30 p.m. Gov. Jared Polis announced that twelve people who were trapped have been successfully rescued.

"I am relieved that 12 of the people trapped in the Mollie Kathleen Mine have been safely rescued," Polis said in a prepared statement.

The tourist attraction where they used to mine for gold is located in Cripple Creek. Mikesell said the trolley car that goes down the elevator as part of the tour was down 500 feet when a mechanical issue happened. That led to the injuries and the death. So far it's not clear exactly how the victim died.

Mikesell said the fatal victim and the four people injured were part of a group that was removed from the mine, but there was another group of 12 people, including children, that was stuck all afternoon and into the evening. Mikesell said that group, which was 1,000 feet underground, was safe and unharmed.

Safety officials were able after many hours to get the elevator back in working order to rescue the 12 people.

"We have people and engineers from the state of Colorado, from our local jurisdictions, mine safety, from our partnering mine right over here, our fire departments," Mikesell said while they were still working on the rescue. "We have the best people in the country that are here working on this issue right now, and my hope is that we can have it resolved tonight."

The identity of the person who was killed has not been released.

"Our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the individual lost in this incident," Polis said.

Colorado state Sen. Mark Baisley, a Republican who represents Teller County, called the situation a tragic.

"The best outcome right now (is) a lot of families get together to recover from the fatality and to comfort each other," Baisley said.

Polis directed state resources to assist authorities with the rescue efforts.

About the gold mine tour

The Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine is located at 9388 Highway 67 in Cripple Creek, which is about an hour west of Colorado Springs. It advertises itself on its website as the "Only Vertical Shaft Gold Mine Tour." Visitors on the tour descend 1,000 feet underground.

Mikesell said the tourist attraction has operated for more than 50 years.

This season's last tours of the old gold mine were scheduled to be this weekend.