Patrick Weier identified as dead man

Colorado authorities have identified the person who died in a former gold mine that is now a tourist attraction.

Patrick Weier, a tour guide at the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine, died after being trapped for several hours underground Thursday after an elevator malfunctioned, authorities said.

Around noon, the elevator at the gold mine near the town of Cripple Creek developed mechanical problems that “created a serious danger to participants,” Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said at a news conference Thursday. fair. Individuals who were part of a tourist group were trapped at the bottom of the mine, which is approximately 300 meters deep.

State and local authorities responded to the incident and initially rescued 11 people, including two children and four people who suffered minor injuries, with a dolly system. The remaining 12 people, including Weier, were trapped at the bottom of the mine for about six hours, Mikesell said.

Mikesell said during a press conference on Friday that the other victims involved in the incident suffered minor injuries.

“Teller County has about 30,000 people or a little less. The community where this man came from has less than 400 people. The nearby town of Cripple Creek has about 1,200 residents,” Teller County Commissioner Dan Williams said at the conference. “Just let that sink in for a minute. This is a tragedy in the county. This is a tragedy in Colorado.”

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Authorities share details of what happened at Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine

An in-depth investigation is underway to determine what caused the elevator to malfunction.

“We know it was at 500 feet that the problem occurred. We know there was some kind of incident with the doors and at that point something went wrong.” Mikesell said. “We don’t know what caused this. We don’t know how this happened.”

Mikesell also said space inside the elevator is limited.

“If you’ve seen these elevators, they’re not very big. So about four to six people is all you can get, depending on the size. So it’s pretty tight,” he said. “We don’t actually know at the 500-foot level whether it fell or not. Some of the reports we had early on were dismissed, they may have been linked, but we don’t really know.”

The sheriff adds that the mine is a family business.

“This family that runs that mining operation, or that tourist operation, are good people,” he said. “They’ve been doing this for, I believe, 60 years, and this was just a very tragic event that occurred.”

Remembering Patrick Weier

Tributes are pouring in for Patrick Weier, who is remembered as a devoted father to a 7-year-old boy.

A GoFundMe was created to help raise money for her son’s future.

“Every contribution, no matter how small, will make a big difference,” Weier’s brother John wrote in the post. “We appreciate your kindness and generosity and help us honor my brother’s memory by caring for the most important part of his legacy.”

Those who knew Weier took to Facebook to remember him as a “great father.”

Other tributes on social media called him a “hero and a “light in a very dark world”.

Contribution: Fernando Cervantes Jr. and Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY.

Ahjané Forbes is a reporter for USA TODAY’s National Trending Team. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, health, lottery and public policy stories. Email her at [email protected]. Follow her on Instagram, Threads and X (Twitter) @forbesfineest.