90 Feared Dead in Yugoslavia Mine Blast

A gas explosion and fire in a coal mine Friday trapped workers nearly half a mile underground, and about 90 miners were feared dead, the Tanjug news agency reported. It said 73 miners had escaped unharmed.

A methane gas explosion and fire erupted at noon at the Aleksinacki Rudnici mine, 120 miles south of Belgrade, as equipment was being welded in a shaft about 2,300 feet underground, mine director Branislav Mandusic told Tanjug.

The state news agency quoted him as saying flames blocked the mine’s main access shaft, and it was believed the miners perished because of poisonous fumes.

White smoke rising from the mine late Friday was visible a mile away, and police kept relatives and reporters well away from the pit, which is one mile outside the town of Aleksinac.

Rescue teams, including special units from other mines in the region, were trying to extinguish the fire and reach the site of the disaster.

Mandusic said all of the miners were equipped with oxygen tanks but that “in the exceptionally grave circumstances, these could not be used.” He did not elaborate.

Mandusic said 73 miners left the pit safely, but they worked in a different part of the mine. Earlier reports had said 104 miners were trapped.

A methane explosion at the same mine in 1983 killed 38 workers.

Scores of people, including relatives of the missing miners, gathered in freezing temperatures to await news of the missing miners. Several survivors agreed there was little hope for their trapped colleagues.

“The fire is still burning, and the temperatures were too high for us to get all the way through,” said Zivorad Stojisavljevic, a member of the rescue team.