Rescuers recover bodies of 38 miners killed in blast
The bodies of 38 miners have been recovered from a southern Siberian coal mine after a deadly methane explosion, the latest deadly accident to hit Russia’s ailing mining industry.
Grieving relatives gathered at the Yubileinaya mine near Novokuznetsk, some 1,850 miles east of Moscow, searching for loved-ones and waiting for officials to identify the dead and treat the seven injured.
Yesterday’s blast at the Yubileinaya mine was the second to hit a mine owned and operated by OAO Yuzhkuzbassugol in two months – prompting a harsh warning from Russian industrial watchdog Rostekhnadzor, which said regional officials had sought to close down the Yubileinaya mine in the past.
“The owner and administration of the mine has repeatedly allowed violations of safety conditions of mine operation,” the agency said. It warned that the Yuzhkuzbassugol might be stripped of its licence.
The explosion occurred about 1,700 feet below the surface at the mine at about 7.30am (4.30am Irish Time).
A total of 179 miners were either brought to the surface or made it out on their own, emergency department spokeswoman Natalia Lukash said.
Irina Andrianova, another emergency department spokeswoman, said 217 people had been working in the mine at the time of the blast. Her statement that the death toll had risen to 38 appeared to account for all those who had been in the mine.
The blast highlighted the hazardous state of Russia’s mining industry, which fell into disrepair when government subsidies dried up after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
It also comes just over two months after 110 people died in a methane explosion at the Ulyanovskaya mine in the same region, known as the Kuzbass. That blast was the worst accident in more than 60 years in Russia’s mines.
In a statement posted on its website, Evraz said it was reviewing its business strategy of investment in Yuzhkuzbassugol, which is a major supplier of coking coal to two Evraz steel mills.
