Russian miners safe after six days underground

Eleven of 13 coal miners who were trapped in a deep shaft in southern Russia for six days were found alive today.

Rescuers led them out of the mine after blasting a tunnel through solid rock.

One of the trapped miners died underground and one remained missing, emergency officials said.

As they were being pulled to safety, news broke of another Russian mining tragedy.

Five men were killed and 66 rescued after a mine explosion in the Primorye region of the Russian Far East, said Viktor Beltsov, a spokesman for the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry.

At the mine in southern Russia, Rescuers reached the men this morning after drillers punched through to the pitface where the miners had sought refuge.

“The guys looked fine for people who have been trapped in a mine for six days. They came out themselves,” said Alexander Smetalin, one of the rescuers. “They were found in the northern part of the mine. They were lying there all together.”

In spite of their ordeal, most of the miners walked out of the shaft on their own. Black dust coated their faces and thick blankets were draped over their shoulders.

As they emerged from the shaft, relatives who had kept vigil outside the mine cried out their names.

A crowd of doctors, policemen and rescue workers surrounded the men as they were hustled into waiting ambulances.

Two of the men were carried out on stretchers, and one was in critical condition. The director of the mine, Vasily Avdeyev, who was among those trapped, had survived.

The miners were among 71 men working 2,625 feet below ground last Thursday when water from a subterranean lake leaked into a shaft above them, blocking their way to the surface. Twenty-five managed to escape, and 33 other miners who had been trapped by the flood were rescued Saturday.

Emergency workers had blasted and drilled through solid rock from an adjacent mine to reach the miners. In the meantime, hundreds of tons of rock, soil and reinforced concrete pillars had been dumped into the shaft to staunch the flood.

It was the second such accident at the Zapadnaya mine this year. It said water flooded the mine in February, but there were no people inside at the time.

Accidents are common in the Russian coal industry, and miners stage frequent protests over wage delays and declining safety standards.

According to the Independent Coal Miners’ Union, 68 miners were killed on the job last year and 98 in 2001.