Police have asked prospectors in remote areas to check in with police as the man who was killed in a mining accident south of Winton on the weekend was identified.
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Longreach man Sidney Cuddy, 62, was fossicking for opals at Opalton when the mine shaft where he was working in collapsed on him.
Mr Cuddy was last seen alive on Thursday afternoon but the alarm was not raised until late Saturday afternoon and emergency services teams from Longreach took six hours to reach the remote site about halfway between Winton and Jundah.
Inspector Mark Henderson said emergency services got the call to go to the site at 4pm Saturday but didn’t get there until 10pm.
“The terrain was very rough and we were unable to get the fire engine on site,” Insp Henderson said. “We shuffled equipment in by car over a couple of hours.”
There.emergency services teams of police and fire officers frantically dug for four hours to retrieve Mr Cuddy but he was dead by the time they found his body.
“It was a challenging scene,” Insp Henderson said.
“It was a race against time because we knew family members were on the way to the scene and we wanted a quick conclusion before they arrived.” Insp Henderson said they had to dig through two metres of rubble and Mr Cuddy had been dead “for some time” when they found him.
“It was a long, cold, hard night and a big thank you to everyone who helped us,” he said.
“But that’s the reality of working in a remote area.”
Insp Henderson urged prospectors to let police know their movements when working in remote areas.
“There’s a lot of prospecting out west, and sometimes in very remote areas,” he said.
“Make sure to keep in contact with relatives, use satellite navigation and call in to the local police station to let us know when you are going out and when you are due back.
Winton Shire mayor Butch Lenton, who went to school with Mr Cuddy, said the Longreach-based man was well-liked.
"He was a knockabout and kind-hearted bloke, who has just been out there trying his luck," he told AAP.
Mr Lenton said accidents were rare at the Opalton fields, which is one of the largest in Queensland and famous for its opal quality.
"There hasn't been too many accidents out in the opal fields but unfortunately something has gone wrong here and Sid's lost his life, the poor bugger."
Investigators from the Department of Natural Resources and Mines are examining the cause of the mine collapse and police will prepare a report for the coroner.