Ten Dead in Russian Mine Blast

28/10/2004| IslamWeb

Ten miners died and about 20 were injured after a gas explosion ripped through a pit in central Siberia trapping dozens of miners, the Interfax news agency reported citing a spokesman for the local government. Russia's emergencies ministry meanwhile said that seven miners had been killed and 23 injured during the blast at the Listvyazhnaya mine in the Kemerevo region. More than 100 miners were underground at the time of the explosion, the ministry said. Initial reports had put the number at 240. There were conflicting figures on how many miners were able to get to the surface after the blast, with the local government putting the number at 30, while rescuers had said 60 miners were now above ground. It was not immediately clear what had caused the explosion. "We are not ruling out that the explosion of methane that had accumulated in the mine could have been the cause," Interfax quoted Sergei Cheremnov, the local government spokesman, as saying. The Russian coal mining industry, largely unprofitable and suffering from underfunding, is notoriously accident-prone, with several fatal incidents over the past months. In April 47 miners died at another Kemerevo mine, near the town of Osinniki after a methane explosion. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Picture shows a Russian miner smoking during a break. (AFP)