An accident at a tourist gold mine in Cripple Creek that killed a man and left more than a dozen people trapped underground was the result of operator error, the Teller County Sheriff's Office said on Wednesday.

An incident involving an elevator at a former Colorado gold mine that led to the death of a tour guide and trapped a group of tourists for hours last

October’s deadly elevator malfunction at a Colorado gold mine that trapped 23 people and killed one was caused by an “operator error,” according to a Wednesday Facebook post from the Teller County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators determined that the incident at the Colorado tourist mine was "not attributed to current mine practices or equipment malfunctions."

The death of a tour guide at a Colorado mine tour in October was caused by "operator error," not mine practices or equipment malfunctions, a recently concluded investigation found.