Nine bodies found after blast in Ukraine mine
An explosion ripped through a coal mine in eastern Ukraine early today, killing at least nine miners and leaving the fate of more than 30 others unknown, the Interfax news agency reported.
One of 43 miners who had been unaccounted for after the blast was found alive, along with nine dead, Interfax reported.
Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Ihor Krol said that an "eruption of a mixture of coal and gases" had occurred at a depth of 3,500 feet in the Zasyadko mine in the Donetsk region.
Four hundred miners were underground at the time of the blast, and all but 43 of them had reached the surface within hours, Krol said.
Ukraine has some of the world's most dangerous mines, due to outdated equipment and poor safety standards. Since the 1991 Soviet collapse, nearly 4,300 miners have been killed in accidents.
