9 miners' bodies found after blast in Ukrainian mine
(AP)
Updated: 2006-09-20 14:48
KIEV, Ukraine - An explosion ripped through a coal mine in eastern Ukraine
early Wednesday, killing at least nine miners and leaving the fate of 39 others
unknown, a rescue official said.
One of the 49 miners who had been unaccounted for after the blast was found
alive, and the bodies of nine others were retrieved, said Emergency Situations
Ministry spokesman Ihor Krol. Teams of rescuers were pressing ahead to find the
39 still unaccounted for, he said.
Krol said that "an unexpected eruption of a coal and gas mixture" had
occurred early Wednesday morning at a depth of 1,078 meters (3,500 feet) in the
Zasyadko mine in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.
Work on the mine was immediately suspended, and 400 miners who were working
in the mine at the time of the blast were evacuated. Forty-nine, however, did
not made it to the surface, and contact with them was cut off. Initially,
rescuers thought 43 had been unable to reach the surface.
Ukraine has some of the world's most dangerous mines,
due to outdated equipment and poor safety standards. Nearly 4,300 miners
have been killed in accidents since 1991.
The Zasyadko mine has earned a reputation as one of the most deadly. In 2002,
a methane explosion killed 20 miners. A year earlier, 54 died, also in an
explosion of methane gas. In May 1999, 50 miners were killed in a methane and
coal dust blast at Zasyadko.
Krol said that government officials were on their way the mine to oversee
rescue operations.
|
