Severe flooding cripples Romania's historic Praid salt mine

Published on 28/05/2025 - 12:40 GMT+2

Heavy flooding successful Romania's Harghita County — nan worst successful nan past 3 decades — has led to captious conditions astatine nan humanities Praid brackish mine, 1 of Europe's largest brackish reserves and a awesome tourer attraction successful nan country, authorities said.

According to County Prefect Petres Sandor, nan inflow of h2o is uncontrollable.

"We mislaid nan conflict pinch nature. The h2o has started to participate nan brackish excavation again, pinch a travel that cannot beryllium controlled astatine nan moment," Sandor told section press.

"Authorities will transportation retired an expertise arsenic soon arsenic imaginable to found nan information of nan walls, nan pillars wrong nan mine, and to determine what to do next," he added.

The Praid brackish excavation dates backmost to Roman times. In caller times, nan attraction connected nan Via Transilvanica long-distance way besides served arsenic a aesculapian centre and a tourer destination, including an escapade park, a cinema, a mini depository and different facilities, each located immoderate 120 metres underground.

Scope of harm remains unclear

The authorities are yet to find nan grade of nan brackish excavation emergency and nan effect of nan flooding.

"The business is complicated. When h2o comes into interaction pinch nan salt, it instantly melts it and makes a hole," Sorin Rindasu, caput of nan Emergency Situations section successful nan Romanian Waters Administration, said.

The travel of nan Corund watercourse increased, resulting successful nan h2o further pouring into nan mine, he added.

Authorities opportunity that though nan business is critical, nan flooding will not destabilise nan full mine.

"it would return rather a while for nan h2o to dissolve truthful overmuch brackish wrong to airs a problem of stability, we are talking astir months, years, not days, weeks, successful immoderate case," Sandor said.

In caller years, h2o leaks person already posed a problem to nan mine, and authorities person carried retired useful to forestall infiltration.

The Romanian authorities offered assistance to nan region to woody pinch nan emergency situation, and nan ministry of system assured nan residents that it would make further investments to trim nan effect of nan brackish mine's flooding connected Romanian tourism and reopen nan excavation for visitors.