Miners escape fire in Ukraine

Up to 46 miners escaped a raging fire in a coal mine in western Ukraine, rescue officials said today.

It was the latest in a string of accidents to hit the former Soviet republic’s troubled mining sector.

The fire broke out at a depth of 1,250ft at the Buzhanskiy mine in Volyn region, near the Polish border, the officials said.

All 46 miners were evacuated to the surface and no injuries were reported.

A spate of recent accidents have plagued Ukraine’s mining sector. At least 189 miners have been killed at work so far this year, and around 3,700 have been killed since 1991.

The extraordinary depth of Ukraine’s mines, a high concentration of methane and outdated mining techniques make fires and explosions more likely than in western mines.