Greek village evacuated after mine collapses

THESSALONIKI, GREECE: Dozens of villagers in northwestern Greece have evacuated their homes after a lignite mine nearby collapsed.

All 182 inhabitants of the village of Anargyroi have been housed in hotels after leaving their homes, some of which are already collapsing in the unstable soil, a village official told The Associated Press.

The government had warned six years ago that the mine posed a threat and the village should be relocated.

State-owned electricity company PPC said Saturday the mine had been in operation until June 3, when it was shut down for safety reasons. The company added that the collapse began Saturday morning and was much larger than anticipated, with some 80 million cubic meters (2.8 bln cu ft) of soil having been displaced at the time of the announcement.

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