Fire at Agrium Vanscoy Potash Mine Traps 50 Workers Underground Overnight

Global News reported that more than 50 people were forced to seek refuge in emergency shelters at Agrium’s potash mine near Vanscoy following a fire that started overnight on Friday. The publication reports that the dozens of workers are safe.

Site manager Mike Dirham said the fire broke out on a scoop tram – a type of loader. Though the tram has a fire suppression system, Dirham said that it couldn’t put out the flames.

They’re a self-contained shelter. They just need to go in and close the doors and wait for emergency response personnel.

There is food and water and telephones in there where we can communicate with the people in each shelter. They vary in size from a capacity of holding 10 people to a capacity of 60 people.

Operations at the mine will remain suspended until it is deemed safe to resume.

Click here to read the full report.