An Irish man has been killed in an explosion at a mine in Australia. <\/p>\n
Ambrose \u201cAmbie\u201d McMullen (59), originally from Cootehill, Co Cavan, was one of three people caught up in the blast. A woman in her early 20s was also killed, while another woman of a similar age was injured. <\/p>\n
The explosion took place at the Endeavor mine in Cobar, about 600km northwest of Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), in the early hours of Tuesday morning local time.<\/p>\n
It is understood Mr McMullen had been living in Australia with his wife, Regina, who is originally from Co Offaly, and their four children. <\/p>\n
He was remembered locally in Cootehill on Tuesday night for his involvement with Cootehill Celtic football team and for his time playing with the GAA. <\/p>\n
Mr McMullen was also remembered on Tuesday night by Midlands North-West MEP Ciaran Mullooly, who said he was \u201cshocked and deeply saddened by this terrible news\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cAmbie was a treasured colleague when we both worked for Eugene McGee in the Cavan Leader at 21 Farnham Street, Cavan in the 1980s and 1990. Ambie was a lovely man \u2013 great fun and craic and we enjoyed manys the night out. I am really sorry for his family and extend my deepest sympathy to his family and friends on their sad loss. RIP Ambie. Farewell old friend,\u201d he said in a post on social media. <\/p>\n
Australian police said emergency services were called to the Endeavor Mine Road at Cobar, at about 3.45am. Officers were told that a man had been confirmed dead after the underground explosion.<\/p>\n
The two women were brought to the surface, but one later died.<\/p>\n
The second was airlifted to hospital suffering hearing damage and shock. NSW health minister Ryan Park said the woman was in a stable condition at Orange hospital.<\/p>\n
The NSW resources regulator, which is responsible for compliance and enforcement across the state\u2019s mining sector, confirmed it was investigating. It said it would be inappropriate to make further comment while the investigation was continuing.<\/p>\n
Cobar Shire council mayor Jarrod Marsden said the tight-knit community had been devastated by the news.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re smashed, I don\u2019t know what other word to use, to be honest. It\u2019s still pretty raw and fresh.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mayor said the blast had affected the entire town.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are people that worked together every day, these are the people you saw down the street, the people you see in the pub,\u201d Mr Marsden said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tragic. These are two families \u2013 their lives will be impacted forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
NSW premier Chris Minns extended his condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the workers who died.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a heartbreaking day for the Cobar community and will be felt across the entire mining industry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand investigations are still under way. The number one priority in any mine must be safety. Everyone who goes to work has the right to come home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Minns said safety protocols and procedures had \u201cgreatly improved\u201d in mining, but the two deaths were \u201ca sobering reminder of why we need to always remain vigilant to protect workers\u201d.<\/p>\n
The state minister for natural resources, Courtney Houssos, said \u201cdespite all regulation and safety improvements\u201d, mining remained a \u201crisky and dangerous occupation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tony Callinan, a spokesperson for the NSW Mine Workers\u2019 Alliance, called on the mine operator and regulator to undertake an open investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe alliance is in shock this morning with news of these fatalities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will leave no stone unturned in identifying what has occurred here. This is a tragic reminder that underground mining is a dangerous job.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u2013 Additional reporting: Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Irish man has been killed in an explosion at a mine in Australia. Ambrose \u201cAmbie\u201d McMullen (59),…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42064,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-109243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-ciaran-mullooly","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}