MINE ACCIDENT: Three dead at Bachelor Lake

QUEBEC — Three miners were drowned at the Bachelor Lake gold mine near Desmaraisville on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. The owner, Metanor Resources of Val d'Or, QC, is rehabilitating the former producer.

CBC News reported the three men entered the mine Friday evening and lost contact with the surface when they reached the bottom of the shaft. When other workers realized something was wrong, they called the cage to the surface. It arrived dripping with water and with the emergency ceiling hatch open. Radio-Canada reported that the drainage pumps were not running and the flood alarm did not go off.

The three men were Bruno Goulet, 36, and Domenico Bollini, 44, both Metanor employees, and Marc Guay, 31, an employee of contractor Montali of Val d'Or.

Quebec's workplace health and safety board (CSST) and the Quebec provincial police have launched an investigation into the accident.