One dead, 12 trapped underground at US mining attraction

One person is dead and 12 others trapped 300m underground following an elevator failure at a former Colorado gold mine that is now a tourist attraction, officials said.

Another 11 people were rescued from the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine attraction in Cripple Creek, Colorado, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell told reporters.

Emergency responders were attempting to repair the elevator to bring back the 11 tourists and one tour guide who were trapped starting around midday (1800 GMT), Mikesell said.

With one tour group below ground, the elevator experienced some type of mechanical failure with another group aboard while it was about halfway down the mine shaft. This resulted in one fatality while four other people suffered minor injuries, Mikesell said without providing details of how the person died.

That group was able to return to the surface on the elevator, which has since been out of commission, the sheriff said.

Responders had radio communication with the people trapped below, and they had water, blankets and chairs to keep them comfortable, Mikesell said.

But they were not told that someone died, only that there was a problem with the elevator, the sheriff said.

Engineers from the state, mine safety experts and firefighters were on hand.

In the event the elevator cannot be safely repaired, firefighters were preparing for a rescue operation, but using the elevator would be much safer, Mikesell said.

"If we have to, we can bring people up on those ropes, but it also subjects those first responders now to the threat and endangerment of doing so," Mikesell said.

A family business has been operating tours at the mine, which is about 110 miles (180 km) south of Denver, for 50 years, with only one previous, unspecified safety incident in 1986, Mikesell said.