Australian firefighters battle days-long coal mine blaze

By Anadolu staff

Australian firefighters on Wednesday battled a five-day long blaze at a coal mine, purportedly caused by gas fire in Queensland state.

Fire erupted at Anglo American multinational company's underground Grosvenor mine on Saturday, prompting an immediate evacuation and exclusion zone around the site, which sits just outside the Central Queensland mining hub of Moranbah.

Hundreds workers have been evacuated and shifted to safe places.

The Anglo American suspended production at the mine, which employs some 1,400 people, and said the protocols to assess steps towards a safe re-entry into the mine "are expected to take several months as a result of the likely damage underground."

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid