One dead and 23 rescued after lift malfunction at Colorado gold mine

Twenty three tourists have been rescued after a lift broke down in a former Colorado gold mine, trapping some of the group underground for six hours.

One person was killed in the accident.

The lift suffered a mechanical problem at 500 feet (150 metres) as it was descending into the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine near the town of Cripple Creek in the US, leaving 11 adults stuck halfway down the shaft.

The lift was fixed and those trapped underground were brought up. / Credit: AP

Four had minor injuries, police said. They were rescued on Thursday afternoon, but a further 12 people, waiting to come back to the surface, remained trapped 1,000 feet (305 metres) at the bottom of the pit.

They had access to water and were considered to be in good spirits during their six-hour ordeal.

Engineers were able to get the lift working safely again, but they had been prepared to bring the trapped tourists up by rope if necessary.

The incident, which was reported to authorities at about noon on Thursday, happened during the final week of the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine season before it shuts down for the winter.

The lift ride typically takes about two minutes, travelling about 500 feet (152 metres) a minute, according to the mine’s website.

Cripple Creek is a town of about 1,100 in the Rocky Mountains southwest of Colorado Springs.

The mine opened in the 1800s and closed in 1961, but still operates tours. Its website describes a one-hour tour in which visitors descend 1,000 feet. It says they can see veins of gold in the rock and ride an underground tram.

A woman named Mollie Kathleen Gortner discovered the site of the mine in 1891 when she saw quartz laced with gold, according to the company’s website.