Welsh mine rescue: One of four at Gleision mine dead

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Police confirm one miner has been found dead

One of four miners trapped 90m (295ft) below ground in the Swansea Valley has been found dead, police say.

Rescuers are still trying to reach three others, trapped for more than 24 hours, in the flooded Gleision Colliery near Pontardawe.
The trapped men are Charles Breslin, 62; David Powell, 50; Garry Jenkins, 39; and Phillip Hill, 45. The dead man is the father of a miner who escaped.
First Minister Carwyn Jones said the focus is on getting the men out alive.
The dead man was found by rescue crews in a very deep part of the flooded mine at Cilybebyll earlier on Friday but rescuers have so far been unable to recover his body.
Flood water Two miners were largely unharmed and are helping the rescue operation after fleeing as the flood water engulfed the drift mine when a retaining wall holding back a body of water underground failed on Thursday.

The third is in Morriston Hospital, Swansea but not believed to be as seriously ill as previously thought.
Families and friends who are at the nearby Rhos community centre have been informed of the news.
Mr Jones spoke to BBC Wales News website reporter David Dulin at the scene.
"There are four groups of people in there waiting to hear the fate of their loved ones. It's a very, very difficult time," he said.

"They have a lot of support, not just from Wales but around the world. Until we know the outcome, it's always going to be very difficult."

Asked about health and safety, he added: "Let's see if we can get these miners out alive, the focus has to be on that. An investigation can come after."
"All I wanted to do is come here and chat. The real work is being done at the Gleision mine. To think of a mining accident happening now is difficult to imagine."
Chris Margetts, from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said the dead miner was found on the "exit side of the body of water" and that it was "quite possible the team has been split".
Emergency services said they had not given up hope of finding the other three men alive and hope they have found their way in to an air pocket on the other side of the water.
Speaking to BBC Wales news website reporter David Dulin, Neath MP Peter Hain the mood at the community centre was "very sombre and down".
He said: "I've spoken to all the relatives and they are going through a nightmare which none of us can comprehend.
"The wife of one of them said to me 'I'd prefer not to know than know what I've been told. It's almost worse than knowing nothing.'"
He added that the families were being "very stoic" and were being warmed with tea and coffee at the centre.
He said the rescue workers were hoping to recover the body within the next couple of hours so he could be formally identified.

A file photograph of inside the Gleision mine

The alarm was raised at 09:21 BST on Thursday and members of the Mines Rescue Service, together with specialist divers, helpers from all over the country and the fire service, have been working through the night.
They were forced back during the night after debris made the water too murky.
Fresh rescue teams were brought in on Friday to relieve crews.
An expert listening device, which can detect movement deep underground, is the among the specialist kit being used.
Excavation process

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I've spoken to the families who are going through a small kind of hell”

Peter Hain Neath MP

Mr Margetts said it was a very "delicate" operation as care had to be taken not to damage the mine's structure. But he said the water levels are receding. Pumps are continuing to remove water from the mine and oxygen is being pumped in.

He said the rescue crews have now gained enough access to get teams down in wetsuits to start the excavation process.
They are continuing to pump out water, excavating the blockages and shoring up the tunnels.
"It is slow and it is steady, but as we're aware with previous incidents, these incidents take time," he said. "We need to do it properly.
"Everyone is working very hard, we just need a little bit of luck."

Rescuers at Gleision Colliery on Friday morning

Gleision Colliery, in operation since 1993, works coal under a very steep hillside above the banks of the river Tawe.
It is a small drift mine working a coal seam from the Rhondda in a remote location cut into a hillside in the Swansea Valley.