Blast Leaves at Least 38 Miners Dead and 8 Missing in Russia
An explosion rocked a Russian coal mine Saturday, sealing a shaft with rubble and killing at least 38 workers. Rescuers were trying to reach about eight others missing underground.
Eight miners were rescued from the Taizhina mine after the apparent explosion of methane gas, said Valery Korchagin, an emergency department spokesman in the Kemerovo region.
Bodies retrieved from the mine were badly disfigured, making identification very difficult, Korchagin said.
According to Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency, more than 600 people work at the mine, about 1,850 miles east of Moscow in Siberia. The mine, which opened in 1998, was built on the foundation of another that had closed, and the equipment shown on TV appeared run-down.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov ordered the government to form a commission to investigate the blast and sent Industry and Energy Minister Viktor B. Khristenko to the site, Interfax news agency reported.
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