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All 17 Miners Trapped in NY Salt Mine Rescued

LANSING, N.Y. (AP) -
This photo provided by the Ithaca Fire Department shows a crane that will assist the rescue of seventeen miners stuck in an elevator underground at the Cargill Salt Mine in Lansing, N.Y., on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. Tompkins County Emergency Management officials say the miners have been trapped since late Wednesday night at the mine, about 40 miles outside Syracuse, and are not in any danger. (Ithaca Fire Department via AP)
This photo provided by the Ithaca Fire Department shows a crane that assisted the rescue of seventeen miners stuck in an elevator underground at the Cargill Salt Mine in Lansing, N.Y., on Thursday. (Ithaca Fire Department via AP)

All 17 miners safe after being stuck in elevator at New York salt mine, officials announced Thursday.

Mark Klein, a spokesman for Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Cargill Inc., said the miners were hoisted to the surface shortly after 7 a.m. at the company’s Cayuga Salt Mine in Lansing, in the Finger Lakes region about 40 miles outside Syracuse.

Klein says the miners got stuck around 10 p.m. Wednesday while descending to the floor of the 2,300-foot-deep mine to start their shift.

He says emergency officials are able to communicate with the miners via radio.

The mine, which Klein said is the deepest salt mine in the Western Hemisphere, produces road salt that is shipped throughout the northeastern United States. The is located on the shore of Cayuga Lake and extends beneath its waters.

Mining at the Lansing site began 100 years ago. Cargill bought the mine in 1970 and today employs 200 workers at the operation, Klein said.

The company conducts evacuation drills annually, Klein said.

“While we hope to never make use of that practice, it’s helping us today,” he said.

 

Updated Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 7:33 am

Updated Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 8:33 am